Prevent Watch notes the announcement by the Home Secretary of the appointment of Tim Jacques as the new Independent Prevent Commissioner.
Prevent Watch supports the creation of this role in principle, recognising that its value will depend on how independence is exercised in practice.
However, the Home Office has appointed Mr Jacques, whose career has been built within senior roles of counter-terrorism policing, as Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism Policing and as Senior National Coordinator for both Prevent and Pursue.
This raises fundamental questions about the independence this role requires and that the public should expect.
Dr Layla Aitlhadj, Director of Prevent Watch, said:
“We are not questioning Tim Jacques’s personal integrity. We are questioning whether it is structurally possible for someone who has been a senior figure in building and running Prevent to now hold it to account.”
“The communities most affected by Prevent, whom the Commissioner is required to engage, have long called for genuine accountability and redress for the harms of Prevent. This appointment will need to demonstrate in practice that it can meet those expectations.”
[Ends]
