Police Scotland veteran’s new book looks at ‘new wave’ of terrorism

repost from article By By Martyn McLaughlin, “Senior policing veteran warns Scotland cannot be 'complacent' in wake of unrest,” The Scotsman, August 18, 2024

A veteran Scottish policing figure has stressed the need for forces across the UK to renew their focus on “neutrality” and “community cohesion” in the wake of the rioting and unrest of recent weeks. 

Martin Gallagher, a former Police Scotland superintendent, warned that Scotland “should not be complacent” in the aftermath of the violent disorder witnessed across swaths of England and Northern Ireland this summer, and pointing to the danger of police being perceived in “divisive” terms.

The retired senior officer, also said that at a time when the country was “fractured,” bad actors were seeking to exploit division, a theme that is explored in his new book, ‘Terror for Profit’, which dissects the relationship between terrorism and organised crime. 

In it, he expresses reservations that the focus on religious extremism that has defined counter-terrorism responses over the past two decades has become “counterproductive,” with increased threats now posed by “lone wolf” attackers motivated by financial gain or burnishing their reputation and notoriety, as well as the closer cooperation and convergence between terrorist and organised crime groups.

While Scotland was spared the ugly flashpoints sparked in other parts of the country after three young girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport last month, Mr Gallagher indicated a need for wider change in order to bring police closer to the communities they serve.

Martin Gallagher served for nearly three decades with Police Scotland. | Martin Gallagher

The veteran policing figure, who was seconded to the Metropolitan Police’s forward intelligence team during the G8 summit in Scotland in 2005, and was at the frontline when policing riots in Gleneagles as well as Edinburgh, said: “In some ways the real work starts now and involves every constabulary, from those who experienced rioting within their borders to those who fortunately did not, such as Police Scotland. Recent reporting, including the perspective of the former First Minister, indicates that Scotland should not be complacent and those who live here have a damaged perspective of the country they call home.

“In recent years, the police have been seen in divisive terms, with accusations of ‘two tier policing’, and essentially a perspective of taking sides. The country is fractured, and in my book, I explain how these fault lines are manipulated by those with nefarious intent. The ‘causes’ they espouse are often simply a cover for them to make personal gain, either financially or through an enhanced reputation amongst their communities of interest.”

Mr Gallagher, the founder and director of Kilmailing Consulting, said he was certain that Scotland’s single force was prepared in the event of any future unrest. “The merger of the Scottish forces may have not been as smooth as many would have liked, but one aspect it has impacted on positively is the ability of Police Scotland to respond to large scale public disorder,” he explained. 

“Resources are readily available and can be drawn from across the country at short notice in a way impossible prior to the merger. I have every confidence that had disorder spread here, a robust response would not have been far away, and I know that those officers now deploying to Northern Ireland will be well trained and equipped to do so.”

However, he also pointed to recent remarks by Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, who stressed the need for police to be “pacifists in the culture war” amid a slew of “spurious” complaints received following the enactment of Scotland’s new hate crime legislation. In Mr Gallagher’s view, the fact that such culture clashes have moved “from ‘cold’ to hot’” on Britain’s streets underlined the need for a renewed focus on the part of the police. 

“For me, neutrality, and from this. a focus on community cohesion, would perhaps be a better mission for policing to return to,” he added. “Cops in communities rather than pontificating on contentious social issues is perhaps a first step in a rebuild that needs to be far more than a focus on the bricks and mortar overturned by the rioters.”

In his new book, Mr Gallagher, who completed a masters in terrorism at the University of St Andrews during his time with Police Scotland, scrutinises terrorist-related activity in his homeland, focusing on the ongoing links between Scotland and Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary groups. He points out that large-scale counterfeit goods operations worth millions of pounds can be traced to production hubs in Glasgow, with such groups also “wholly immersed” in other illegal activity.

Such actions, he elaborates, are indicative of the changing drivers behind terrorist behaviour, a trend he believes has been overlooked in part due to the “sheer magnitude” of the 9/11 terror attacks and the religious motivations of those who perpetrated them. 

His book, which has been praised by General David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA, as “the product of decades of experience and expertise,” also pays close attention to a recent “pattern of far right lone wolf attackers” at a time when there has been what Mr Gallagher describes as a “worldwide alteration of individual and national worldviews.” 

He also stressed the links between such developments and poor mental health “cannot be understated,” with estimates that almost a third of lone actors have mental health issues. Illustrating a pioneering approach in Denmark, where police forces and social services have a psychiatric information sharing service, Mr Gallagher said there was a pressing need to accept that mental health was a factor in influencing contemporary terrorist activity. 

“Only through this acceptance will an accurate picture of the terrorist threat that is faced be possible, and will there be the possibility for international progress in identifying treatment and preventive measures for those who are ill,” he said. “If not, we may well face a descent which will see the actions of lone wolf terrorists grow exponentially.”

Terror for Profit: A New Paradigm for Understanding Terrorism and Organised Crime’ is published by KeyPoint Press 

Terror for Profit: A New Paradigm for Understanding Terrorism and Organized Crime is presently available on Amazon in ebook format for Kindle and paperback.  Hardcover will be available soon!