THE public have an important role to play in combating terrorism according to the police, during the second national Counter Terrorism Awareness Week.

The campaign aims to highlight the important role which residents have, with officers saying the relationship between the police and the public needs to be stronger than ever before to counter the threat following the attacks in Paris.

As part of the campaign, police will focus on a different aspect of counter terrorism and terrorist threats every day.

The themes will include protecting businesses and crowded places, cyber attacks and online extremism and radicalisation.

In addition, advice will be given to the public on the various ways that they can help, such as by reporting suspicious activity, flagging up an extremist websites or contacting support services if they believe loved ones have become radicalised.

Specialist counter terrorism officers and experts will also be carrying out a series of web chats on Twitter during the week.

Assistant chief constable Rebekah Sutcliffe, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "The police and security services are working hard to protect people and businesses from terrorism, and this week gives us an opportunity to remind communities about this threat and help them to take the necessary steps to stay safe.

"I cannot overstate the importance of the role that we all play in helping to protect Greater Manchester and the UK against the threat of terrorism.

"Whilst recent events in Paris were both sickening and horrific, people shouldn’t feel powerless. Instead, we encourage the public to focus on what you can do to make a difference, and make sure you know where to get information from the police in a crisis.

“Since the threat level was raised to ‘severe’ last year, police activity has increased accordingly in terms of number of arrests and investigations. But just as importantly, we’re getting more calls and more information from the public — which is vital to us, and we appeal to everyone to let us know if they see anything suspicious, no matter how small.”

Any suspicious activity or behaviour can be reported to police via the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline by calling 0800 789 321. Extremist or terrorist content online can be reported at www.gov.uk/report-terrorism