Behind the Counter Terrorism Policing social media channels is a dedicated team of police staff who work hard to provide updates on investigations, safety messages to the public, and showcase the fascinating world of specialist policing. In the event of a terrorism incident, they also share critical public safety advice and investigative updates.  

While our accounts are managed by police staff, they work closely with officers from right across the Counter Terrorism Policing network and may also share relevant updates from other UK police forces.  

Our channels are not the place to make reports about crime and this includes terrorism offences or Prevent referrals.  

If you need to report concerns about terrorism or suspected terrorist activity visit gov.uk/ACT or call 999 in an emergency.  

Our house rules 

This page sets out our house rules across all our social media accounts.  

We welcome discussion, comments and engagement on our channels and will always aim to answer any questions left in our comments sections where appropriate.  

However, we will not tolerate or respond to abusive messages. 

We reserve the right to report, block and remove users whose comments are: 

• Abusive or discriminatory against any individual or group
• Threatening, including intimidating towards our colleagues or anyone else featuring on our channels
• Deceptive or misleading, including misinformation and disinformation
• Obscene, profane or sexually explicit
• Defamatory or slanderous
• In violation of copyright
• In violation of any law, including the Contempt of Court Act, or regulation or promoting illegal activity
• Considered to be spamming or spam
• Considered to be provocative, irrelevant, off-topic or baiting – otherwise known as trolling
• Promotional material, including links to external websites, requests for sponsorship or party political content
• Identifying a victim, witness or suspect by any means that could affect their personal safety. For example; names, address, school, place of work etc.
• Identifying a serving police officer or member of staff in a manner that could affect their personal safety, threatens violence or is grossly derogatory.

If your comment falls into the list above, it may be hidden, deleted or reported without warning.

You may also be temporarily or permanently blocked from our social media accounts. 

We also reserve the right to criminally investigate any comment, should they break any law. 

Direct messages  

Our channels are monitored periodically during standard office hours (09:00 – 17:00 on weekdays). We do not routinely monitor our channels outside of these hours or at weekends or on public holidays, unless there is an operational need.  

Our channels are not the place to make reports about crime and this includes terrorism offences or Prevent referrals.  

If you need to report concerns about terrorism or suspected terrorist activity visit gov.uk/ACT or call 999 in an emergency. 

Endorsement 

Following an account or being followed by an account, using hashtags, or mentioning other accounts does not necessarily amount to endorsement from Counter Terrorism Policing or any other part of policing.  

We may repost or share content if we think it is useful or interesting to our followers, but this is not an endorsement.