Special intelligence units are being planned across Britain to monitor Muslims so the authorities can collect "community by community" knowledge of where extremism is building up.
The Guardian has learned that the special squads, to be known as Muslim Contact Units and staffed by Special Branch officers, will be established in areas including Yorkshire, northwest England and parts of the Midlands.
After the London bombings police admit their intelligence of what goes on in Muslim communities is "low," and urgently needs to be boosted.
The police and Home Office say that a Muslim Contact Unit operating in London has already helped thwart extremist attempts to recruit young British Muslims to violent jihad, by working with Islamic communities.
The establishment of the special units is one of the first concrete counter-terrorist measure to emerge after the London bombings.
On Tuesday British Prime Minister Tony Blair met moderate British Muslim leaders and agreed on a taskforce to produce measures to tackle extremism.
The Special Branch units will have language skills and seek detailed knowledge of the dynamic of Islamic communities in their areas. They will fulfil two roles, helping protect Muslim communities from Islamophobic abuse and attacks, while also gathering intelligence on extremist activity.
Any leads on extremists can be passed to the security services or acted upon by police.
A senior police officer with knowledge of the scheme told the Guardian: "Deep knowledge of Muslim communities is rare in the service. If you are going to understand who is extreme and who is dangerous, which are different [concepts], you have to understand the community.
"Unless you know the subject well and what they are saying, often in Arabic or Urdu, and what the context is, you are not going to get a feel for it," the source said.
The source stressed that the squads would be open about their work.
"It is not about spying."
Contact Units are expected to get final approval and funding soon from ministers. The scheme applies principles of community policing, learned by forces since the 1980s, to the field of counterterrorism.
"It's about policing, it's not just about being nice to communities. You protect them against Islamophobia, and work with Muslims to protect them against extremists," the senior police source said.
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