Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE)

Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) is a specialist regional unit, made up of officers and staff from five police forces – Hampshire Constabulary, Kent Police, Surrey Police, Sussex Police and host force, Thames Valley Police. We work with a range of partners to help protect the public and national security by prevent, deterring and investigating terrorist activity.

As we have seen in recent years, terrorist attacks can happen at any time or place without warning, and as the threat continues to evolve, then so must we. The challenges we face are not only in person, they are also online and in the shadows. We are dedicated to making the best of our resources; we have unique skills and work with technical experts, digital innovators and world renowned investigators. This specialist unit offers both Police Officer and Police Staff roles.

Message from Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright

Thank you for your interest in joining the Counter Terrorism Policing network (CTP) and in particular our unit here in the South East.

The CTP network was created after the ‘game-changing’ events of the suicide bombings, and follow up attempts, in London in July 2005 (7/7 and 21/7), with Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) coming on line in 2009. Since then, we have played an instrumental role in the ongoing development of the network and have led on a range of significant, internationally high profile counter terrorism cases and investigations, undoubtedly saving lives along the way.

The work that the CTP network does is hugely rewarding on a number of levels: we work with colleagues in forces right across the United Kingdom and with a whole range of international law enforcement and intelligence agencies. This means that we do everything from staying really connected to local policing, coordinating activity across the whole of the South East region, to conducting investigations jointly with other countries. There are untold opportunities to get involved in developing the network’s capability through a whole series of working groups and project.

Thankfully, we attract and retain really good people but we need to go further. We need the broadest possible set of people because the threats that we face are ever diversifying and we can only truly tackle them through diverse teams with diverse perspectives. CTPSE is a place where really can be yourself (and we really want you to be).

The specialist nature of our work can, inevitably, lead to some people ruling themselves out of applying for roles with us having thoughts of ‘there’s bound to be someone more experienced’; ‘what do they do in that secret world?’; ‘leaving my home force is a bit out of my comfort zone’. But I want to assure you that there’s every reason for you have a go. I nearly ruled myself out for all of the same reasons, but I took the plunge six years ago and I’m still here wondering why I hadn’t taken the plunge long before.

So, please do take your interest further.

Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright
Head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East