Children as young as 10 being radicalised online, as it emerges one in five terror arrests are children
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor KPM said Prevent had over 10,000 referrals last year when they would ordinarily expect to see "around 7,000".
The Head of Counter Terrorism Policing has said children as young as 10 are being referred to Prevent - amid a surge in referrals.
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Speaking on Tonight with Andrew Marr, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor KPM said Prevent had over 10,000 referrals last year when they would ordinarily expect to see "around 7,000".
He explained: "Now partly that's a good thing. We want to get upstream. We want to engage with people and prevent them from becoming terrorists.
"But we are seeing more and more people in that cohort with mixed ideologies and more and more young people."
He went on: "I think what's most worrying for me is if you look at our investigative caseload at the moment, 1 in 5 of the arrests we made for terrorism last year were children, so below the age of 17.
He added: "10 years ago, that was 1 in 20."
When quizzed by Andrew on the threat posed by online disinformation, Commissioner Taylor explained how dangerous social media algorithms can be in pushing narratives.
"The algorithms that exist on your phones, on the internet— if you show an interest in something, that information is then pumped towards you.
"So when we speak about radicalisation, traditionally it might have taken a year to radicalise somebody.
He added radicalisation can happen "in minutes or hours, and that's a real challenge."
Commissioner Taylor called for a better legislative framework in order to bring extreme material down and hold big tech accountable for what they host.
"I think it certainly goes to the platforms, to the social media companies who have a responsibility in this space, and I've spoken out about that in the past.
He added: "But I think as a whole whole society, we have a responsibility to address these issues."
'Very challenging'
Andrew then asked him what "keeps him up at night".
He answered: "I think it's the complexity of what we're dealing with. No longer is it 'We are looking at Islamist terrorism', or we are looking at this thing, we are looking at that, plus state-backed activity, plus our responsibility to defend democracy, plus polarised communities.
"And all of that creates a very challenging operating environment."