Only one part-time member of the federal anti-terrorism core police unit has been allocated the task of detecting potential online messages from terrorists, reveals research by Comité P (the police supervisory body) which the daily De Standaard accessed. A federal police team of 10 officers will be in charge of surfing the internet to detect radical messages from January 1st, decided Home Secretary Jan Jambon consequently.
According to Comité P, “online monitoring suffers from a terrible lack of funding.” The report indicates that “the ‘Internet Intelligence Support Unit’ of the federal anti-terrorism core police unit is currently made up of only one part-time employee.” The daily explains that the research shows the other members of the team left in 2014.
Home Secretary Jambon deplores that the police force has not tried harder to filter online communication, he said on Radio 1 programme De Ochtend on Wednesday, “but we have now dealt with this issue.” An online research team will support the federal police core units from early next year. The N-VA minister revealed the team will include 10 people and will be asked to look for radical and extremist messages as well as any other dangerous online phenomenon. Jan Jambon also stressed that the national security department is already keeping track of online communication by known Jihadists.
(Source: Belga)
