Having first worked in a Regional Organised Crime Unit tackling sexual predators, ‘Emma’ moved into one of Counter Terrorism Policing’s surveillance teams before taking up her current role as a handler of human intelligence sources.
In the first episode of Inside Counter Terrorism Policing she talks about why she loves her job and the importance that human intelligence plays in stopping terrorism:
“Working with sources is absolutely fascinating. I love people and I think that was the game changer for me.
“I jumped at the chance to be in this world when I found out that civilians could be handlers, not just officers. No two days are the same, everybody’s different. People are unpredictable.”
She’s one of five women working in a range of roles across the UK who have shared their story for International Women’s Day with the aim of inspiring others to consider a career in national security and policing.
For some of the women involved it’s the first time they’ve spoken publicly about their work and to do so safely, their identities have been protected for the podcast.
They include a Senior Investigating Officer, a teacher turned Intelligence Analyst and a forensics expert with decades of experience.
In the first episode, ‘Emma’ explains how being able to talk to people has been a vital skill in keeping both the public, and herself, safe:
“It’s my job to find the commonality between me and the person I’m sat in front of and convince them it’s a good thing to have a relationship with us.
“We’re very different to other parts of policing, and officers out on the frontline, risking their lives. Our role is convincing the people we work with that if you had the opportunity to stop something – how would you feel about that?”
From today, you can listen to the first episode of Inside Counter Terrorism Policing on Acast, or wherever you get your podcasts from.
We are always looking for people to join our team and our mission to protect the public from terrorism.
With 43 late stage terror attacks stopped since 2017, the need to recruit incredible people has never been greater.
You can find current vacancies here, and on your local police force websites.
Links:
Acast show page: https://shows.acast.com/inside-counter-terrorism-policing
Apple show page: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/inside-counter-terrorism-policing/id1798977390
Spotify show page: https://open.spotify.com/show/54rwVyHfVJ5vG7XgQQ0ubT?si=E7eJFWInT7-SZRqDHtk1jw
Future episodes:
- 6 March – Emma: the woman recruiting our covert human sources
- 13 March – Jo: from a rural town to banning extremist groups
- 20 March – Jess: the woman leading counter terrorism investigations
- 27 March – Heidi: Secondary school teacher turned intelligence analyst
- 3 April – Cassandra: 40 years of forensics and CSI, giving a voice to those who no longer have one.
