Secu4All

Secu4All aims to empower local and regional authorities with theoretical knowledge and practical tools to ensure the security of public spaces and the protection of soft targets (i.e. sports venues, shopping centres, schools,…) against potential threats. Specific training programs will be developed in the following four areas: vulnerability assessment, crisis communication, innovative technologies & urban planning. 

The Secu4All project will implement a holistic approach that takes into account the potential threat of terrorism as well as other crimes and possibly forms of incivility in public spaces and soft targets that have a considerable impact on the  security and feeling of insecurity of citizens. Furthermore, major crises (whether economic or otherwise) have repercussions for security, as security issues are deeply linked to those of social ties and cohesion. The COVID19 health crisis, with its socio-economic impacts, clearly attests to the need for a holistic perspective that allows cities to respond to the different risks and threats that may occur in public spaces.  Through training local authorities and other local actors involved in the security and the design, management and planning of public spaces, the project intends to mainstream elements of  prevention, protection, reaction and anticipation into urban security policies in order to ensure safer public spaces that remain open, accessible and inclusive for all users.

The security and management of public spaces involves a broad range of actors. This is why Secu4All promotes a multi-stakeholder approach and coordinates local actors, including law enforcement agencies, first responders, civil society organisations, private sector actors and community representatives. 

SENTINEL (NL)

ProSPeReS

ProSPeReS project is aimed at increasing the level of protection in places of worship with keeping the balance between security measures and preservation of the open nature of religious sites.

It will be achieved by forming a cooperation between faith-based leaders, public services and security experts, the places risk evaluation, raising public awareness (especially key beneficiaries – clergy and worshippers), as well as developing and validating comprehensive protection system.

The system involves tools and templates (i.e. including utilization of EU Vulnerability Assessment Tool), training (including eLearning with VR), educational materials and security precautions covering entire cycle of an emergency (from prevention to recovery), a model of security system for indoor and outdoor religious gatherings with set of recommendations. The model will include upmost effective ways of cooperation between public authorities and services, faith-based leaders, various religious institutions, security experts and practitioners. Efficient communication is a key element in order to build solid platform for exchanging needs, expectations, best practices; sharing knowledge and experiences on usage of technological and non-technological solutions as well as existing and potential innovations in the respected field.

The inherent part of the project is organizing a series of train-the-trainer training and large-scale exercises in religious sites with engagement of public security services: police, fire-fighters and medical.

The project will design and implement EU-wide awareness-raising campaign addressed to religious sites’ personnel and leaders, worshippers, officers of public services and authorities related to protection of congregations and broader society.

ANITA

The illegal trade (trafficking) of online goods is growing exponentially. The ANITA project (Advanced tools for fighting oNline Illegal TrAfficking), focuses on the investigation of illegal online trafficking using a big data toolkit. The European Commission is financing this innovative project. For an effective and efficient approach to illegal trafficiking, it is vital to gather and analyse both open- and closed source information. Specifically with regards to: 

• the taxonomie of criminal actors;

• the identification of organised crime groups;
  recognising and countering online

• trafficking as a business model;

• investigating and researching the surface web, deep web and dark net.

The respective support networks are using different techniques to prevent them from being unveiled. The first strategy is to present them as legal as possible. As an example, novel psychoactive substances (NPS), the so called “legal highs”, are generated faster than the update rate of the blacklist for illegal drugs. Thus, trading and transporting of NPS is legal, even though, the psychoactive effect is often stronger, than existing illegal drugs. This “appear as legal” strategy is also followed by some specific charity organisations, which offer community services, but in fact they are organising worldwide fund raising activities for terrorism organisations. The second strategy is to build up an environment within which identification and censorship are impossible, instead of caring about legal compliance. The next generation of black markets will provide an infrastructure to set up anonymous companies, with invisible owners, anonymous management, employees and customer, like the Ethereum platform. The synergies between the trafficking activities concerning a) counterfeit/falsified medicine, drugs and NPS, b) weapons and firearms, and c) terrorism funding are considered as an emerging trend that, in the short term, could lead to new organized criminal arrangements as well as in an increasingly complex illegal market. Additionally, the aforementioned illegal trafficking activities will be further boosted by the next generation crypto currencies that will serve as a standard payment method for legal and illegal services, provided in the deep and dark web. They are expected to prove as a more reliable and less expensive alternative (EMCDDA) to anonymous payment systems. 

PRoTECT

The PRoTECT project aims to strengthen local authorities’ capabilities in Public Protection by putting in place an overarching concept where tools, technology, training and field demonstrations will lead to situational awareness and improve direct responses to secure public places pre, in, and after a terrorist threat. This cross sectoral project is an initiative of the Core group of the European Network of Law Enforcement Technology Services (ENLETS).

The main outcomes of the project are, as follows:

• Risk and Cost reduction

• Developing training materials related to the protection of public spaces for municipalities and LEAs

• Putting in place and implementing a pan European technology capability assessment tool for cities.

Initiated by ENLETS, the PRoTECT project will support the policy of the European Commission by providing local actors – the cities in Europe – with guidance, training and awareness on the usage of technology as an indispensable tool for a secure municipality.

It will – in close cooperation with DG Home and the European Forum for Urban Security (EFUS) – use the developed Commission’s Soft Target Site Assessment tool, and it will provide the Policy group, the Commission, the Practitioners network and the to be established Operators Forum with tangible results, such as valuable feedback and practical recommendations based on the technology and soft target site assessment tool.

Cyclopes

The Internet and online ecosystems provide global connection and many opportunities for growth and innovative solutions to flourish. However, unfortunately, there are also opportunities for criminals to exploit the systems – and they are. Cybercrime, in its various forms, is an expanding problem and poses growing challenges for law enforcement.

To successfully combat the threats posed by cybercrime, law enforcement agencies must continuously develop their understanding of the latest threats and trends and the tools, solutions and methods available to counter them. Therefore, police must keep pace with new technologies to understand the possibilities they create for criminals and how LEAs can use them to fight cybercrime.

Cybercriminals are becoming more agile, abusing new technologies with lightning speed, tailoring their attacks using new methods, and cooperating in ways we have not seen before. Complex criminal networks operate across the world, coordinating intricate attacks in a matter of minutes.

QROC

The Quick Response for Operational Centers (QROC) project shares needs and best practices and increases the foresight regarding (the uptake of) new innovative technologies for operational centers to improve the public protection. To that aim, the QROC project will build a communication capability between the Law Enforcement National Operational Centers (NOC) to share quickly and secure operational data across borders regarding terrorist threats to protect the public. This project is an initiative of the Core group of the European Network of Law Enforcement Technology Services (ENLETS). 

The general objective of the project is to provide all EU member states National Operational Centers NOC’s) with an increased level of response capability to protect the public and public spaces against terrorist attacks and CBRN-E threats by:

• Connecting NOCs

• Handling data flows

• Education and training

Starlight

STARLIGHT aims to create a community that brings together LEAs, researchers, industry and practitioners in the security ecosystem under a coordinated and strategic effort to bring AI into operational practices. 

Understand

Improve the widespread understanding of AI across LEAs to reinforce their investigative and cybersecurity operations and the need to uphold legal, ethical and societal values.

Exploit

Provide opportunities to LEAs to exploit AI tools and solutions in their operational work that are trustworthy, transparent and human-centric.

Protect

Ensure that LEAs can protect their own AI systems through privacy- and security-by-design approaches, better cybersecurity tools and knowledge.

Combat

Raise LEAs’ expertise and capacity to combat the misuse of AI-supported crime and terrorism.

Boost

Boost AI for LEAs in Europe delivering long-term sustainability through an AI hub that supports a strong security industry and enhances LEA strategic autonomy in AI. 

Trillion

TRILLION proposes an innovative socio-technical platform to foster effective collaboration between citizens and law-enforcement agencies.

To achieve this, TRILLION provides multiple channels for incident discovery, prediction, reporting and interaction. Citizens will have the choice of using existing social networks or directly reporting incidents via native mobile applications.

Through such reporting via the TRILLION platform, law-enforcement agencies will be able to detect incidents more efficiently, with information collected used to detect and respond to unfolding security situations in real time. To do this, the platform will employ a wide range of geo-location technologies, including those that enhance incident reporting in confined spaces, such as shopping malls, cinema complexes, event areas and stadiums. In order to ensure that the information collected is complete, whilst still respecting privacy and other national and EU regulations, TRILLION will conduct advanced data mining and use classification techniques to highlight the relevance of information to law-enforcement agencies, whilst a comprehensive security framework will ensure the privacy and integrity of user data.

To increase awareness and foster uptake of the platform, TRILLION will use two Serious Game applications. One will focus on facilitating the training of law-enforcement agencies in its use. The other will seek to increase awareness amongst citizens of how they can contribute to improved urban security through the platform.

Throughout its development, a select group of end users from across different member states will ensure that the platform is designed according to a pan-European perspective.

TRILLION follows a multi-disciplinary approach. This approach will see social scientists, technology experts and law-enforcement agencies across Europe collaborating on the creation of this technology. Together, they will consider the key ethical, legal and security issues affecting the development of the platform. With extensive input from potential end users, they will jointly develop the socio-technical infrastructure required to enhance cooperation between citizens and law enforcement agencies – for the benefit of all.

TRILLION will build on its developers' prior experience working with citizens and public authorities, and on the expertise of its law-enforcement partners. A range of piloting and early validation phases will be held across different locations and different contexts.