The Civil Nuclear Constabulary: Accountability and Policing Post 9/11
| Author | Colin Rogers |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.2007.80.3.237 |
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DR COLIN ROGERS
Senior Lecturer Police Sciences, University of Glamorgan
THE CIVIL NUCLEAR
CONSTABULARY:
ACCOUNTABILITY AND POLICING
POST 9/11
Britain now appears to be a legitimate target for terrorists who
may use a variety of tactics and devices to cause as many
casualties, disruption and as much panic in society as possible.
One way to achieve this would be through the acquisition of
nuclear or biological material in order to create a ‘dirty’
weapon. The organisation responsible for guarding civil
nuclear sites is a recently formed police agency called the Civil
Nuclear Constabulary. The CNC is an armed police force
which is the first response for any attempt to unlawfully obtain
or tamper with nuclear material. This article raises the question
of whether the CNC can be considered as a police organisation
and raises some anomalies regarding the accountability and
governance of such a vital organisation.
Introduction
Terrorism is now a global phenomenon and requires an inter-
national response based upon a multi-agency approach. Attacks
on social infrastructures in major cities, including London, New
York and Madrid have highlighted this fact. Events in London
on 7 July 2005, where bombs exploded on the underground and
on a bus, killing 56 people in total, including the bombers, and
injuring hundreds confirms that Britain has now become a prime
target for terrorist attacks. Subsequent enquiries and information
revealed that three of the suicide bombers were from Pakistani
families resident in the north of England and the fourth was a
Jamaican who had converted to Islam. The fact that the United
Kingdom had become the first western country to be attacked by
‘home-grown’ Islamic terrorists was reported by news media
from across the globe and is reflected in recent legislation (Home
Office, 2006).
Terrorism consists of acts intended to spread intimidation,
panic destruction and destruction in a population. This includes
the possibility of the detonation of a so-called ‘dirty’ device.
Such an event must be a consideration for policy makers and the
intelligence community as a whole, as the constitution of such a
The Police Journal, Volume 80 (2007) 237
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