2012 Annual Report now available
CEPOL is pleased to announce that its Annual Report 2012 is now available. The Annual Report contains information about CEPOL’s achievements in 2012. The report also highlights a selection of training activities that were implemented during the year.
In total, 6,019 people took part in a CEPOL training activity in 2012, up from 4,206 participants in 2011 (an increase of 43%). Through a combination of reduced governance costs and the greater use of new technology to facilitate training and coordination, the agency reasonably lowered the unit price of training activities. This was achieved without compromising quality and CEPOL continued to reach satisfaction levels of over 90%.
Read the full report here.
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The economic crisis and financial constraints have deep and far reaching consequences for living standards and cohesion of societies and by that also affected policing in many states. Additional challenges for the police services have come up with the new media and their wide range of implications on everyday policing, criminality and major events. Use of powers, police accountability and legitimacy being sensitive indicators for quality of democracies and governance in general these questions under the new conditions have to be analysed even more carefully. With this focus the conference tries to collect and present current results of police theory and research and assess the impact on policing strategies.
The three-day conference is open to police researchers, scientists, practitioners and educators. The conference will offer many opportunities for networking and exchanges of information, as well as giving participants the chance to showcase their own projects in an informal setting. Speakers include police science and research experts from across Europe, as well as representatives of European Union agencies and non governmental organisations.
Read more about the 2013 conference in the Conference Invitation
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The European Commission has published its second annual report on the implementation of the EU Internal Security Strategy.
Read the press release
Read the report
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SIRENE trainers were given the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the Schengen Information System during a three-day training activity (Course 41/2013) organised by CEPOL in March 2013. In total, 33 participants from EU Member States, Switzerland, Iceland and Lichtenstein attended the course ‘SIS II technical use for SIRENE trainers’, which took place in Eversley, UK.
The course prepared SIRENE trainers for the launch of the second generation Schengen Information System, due to take place in early April 2013. The course provided SIRENE trainers with the necessary knowledge to train other SIRENE staff and end-users in the use of the upgraded system.
The Schengen Information System is the largest shared database used for maintaining public security, support police and judicial co-operation and managing external border control. Participating states provide entries, called "alerts", on wanted and missing persons, lost and stolen property and entry bans. It is immediately and directly accessible to all police officers at street level and other law enforcement officials and authorities who need the information to carry out their roles in protecting law and order and fighting crime. It covers most of the European Union, together with Norway, Iceland Switzerland and Lichtenstein. The Schengen Information System (SIS I) has been updated and the new second generation of the system – called SIS II – will become operational in early April. SIS II will provide police officers in the Schengen area with an even more sophisticated and technologically advanced tool to help tackle crime. The CEPOL course offered experienced police officers specialized in international police cooperation in-depth training on the new SIS II legal basis, its functionalities, related technical and functional procedures, data amnesty as well as practical skills to work with the new updated system. The trained officers will serve as trainers in their home country and will transfer the acquired knowledge to their colleagues.
CEPOL’s partners in organising the course were the European Commission, the EU Agency for operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA), the Italian Ministry of Interior and the German Federal Criminal Police Office. These partners provided their expertise to create an effective course programme and also provided course trainers.
Aija Kalnaja, CEPOL’s Acting Head of Training Unit said, ‘Travelling without border control checks has become part of our life. While millions of citizens benefit from easier travel, we rely on law enforcement to prevent criminals from exploiting the lack of border controls. This CEPOL course means that more law enforcement officers will know how to use SIS II when it is introduced and will be able to take advantage of the faster and more extensive data exchange, maintaining the security of EU citizens and increasing European law enforcement cooperation.’
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Documentation related to ‘Enhancing European Coordination for National Research Programmes in the Area of Security at Major Events – The House’ is now available to CEPOL registered users.
The House – a project funded by the European Commission – involves the testing of the provision of coordination standards during major events in Europe. These standards concern key areas which were identified as commonalities of interest as being the basic constituents of major event security planning in Europe requiring further coordination. After the elaboration of these standards in previous projects (most notably EU-SEC and EU-SEC II) their provision is now being tested in The House project.
The project involves a Consortium of 24 European Union Member States and will contribute to the elaboration of a common European major events security planning framework and will facilitate the adoption of a common policing approach at European Union level. These two objectives are in full compliance with the provisions of the EU’s main strategic priorities in this field, in particular the Stockholm Programme and Internal Security Strategy, which seeks ‘more effective European law enforcement cooperation’.
CEPOL registered users may access documentation at the dedicated e-Net page.
For further information, visit The House project website.
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On 1 January 2013, Ireland took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Ireland’s detailed Presidency Programme ‘For Stability, Jobs and Growth’ is available to read and for download at the Presidency website www.eu2013.ie.
The core principles of the Presidency are:

• People-centred recovery, designed to last
• Investment in job-friendly growth and in Europe’s resources
• Europe and the world: a win-win engagement with our partners

In the field of Justice and Home Affairs, the key priorities of the Irish Presidency include:

• Seeking agreement on key aspects of the Data Protection package which is aimed at giving citizens more control over their personal data online.
• Supporting European economic recovery and growth through a number of   proposals, including the European Account Preservation Order which is intended to facilitate cross-border business activity within the EU by reducing the risks associated with such activity.
• Working with the European Parliament to achieve the possible adoption of the Directive on the freezing and confiscation of proceeds of crime which will make it easier for authorities to confiscate and recover profits from cross-border organised crime

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‘Cybercrime – Transition Internet Protocol IPv4 to IPv6’ was the subject of a CEPOL course held in The Hague, The Netherlands from 17 – 18 December 2012.  The course was hosted at the European Cybercrime Centre at Europol’s headquarters.
The aim of the course was to provide the participants with an understanding of the underlying issues and technical concepts related to the transition from the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to the new Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Thirty-eight people from 16 European Union Member States and three participants from Candidate Countries participated in this course. The participants of this course came from Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, Croatia, Iceland and Turkey. Experts from the European Cybercrime Centre at Europol also participated.
Given that the background and technical competencies of the course participants were different, the course curriculum attempted to strike a balance between theoretical and practical sessions in order to provide all participants with an overall perspective of the issue being discussed. The theory combined with technical exercises enriched the discussion and interaction between the students and the trainers giving to the event an operational perspective on how to deal with new forms of cyber-investigations.
CEPOL engaged three experts from RIPE NCC assist in the delivery of the course. This joint action underlines the need for public-private partnerships which are key in the fight against cybercrime.
Cybercrime is considered a high priority at the international level and CEPOL will play a major role in capacity building, and will support the European Cybercrime Centre in this arena.
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The CEPOL course for SIRENE Officers (basic level) was held in Berne, Switzerland from 26 – 30 November 2012. The activity was developed and organised through a partnership between CEPOL and the Swiss Police institute and SIRENE Switzerland. The activity dealt with the basics of working in a SIRENE Bureau based on procedures and practices described in the SIRENE Manual and the ”Schengen Catalogue – Best Practices”.
Thirty four participants from 22 Member States including delegates from Switzerland and Liechtenstein took part in the seminar. Prior to the seminar participants were invited to log into CEPOL’s e-Net in order to carefully study pre-course material (SIRENE Module, exclusively for SIRENE operators).
The seminar’s teaching methods included lectures and group assignments in four specific areas, namely:

1. Procedures involving article 95 “Arrest for judicial authorithy” of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement (CISA) led by Gro Persson from the Swedish SIRENE Bureau.
2. Procedures involving CISA articles 96 “Residence Ban” led by Manuela Brenner of the Swiss SIRENE Bureau.
3. Procedures involving CISA articles 97, 98 and 99 “Missing persons, Whereabouts, discreet surveillance and specific check” led by Lieve VanderSchot of the Belgian SIRENE Bureau.
4. Procedures involving article 100 “Search of properties” and “Police Cooperation led by Judith Hoogesteger of the Dutch SIRENE Bureau.

All trainers were supervised throughout the activity by lead trainer Roman Gfrerer from the Austrian SIRENE Bureau
Presentations covered both theoretical and practical matters. Particular cases demonstrating information exchange via forms, issue solving and correct/incorrect procedures were presented. Participants took an active part in the workshops presenting their national solutions and procedures highlighting similarities as well as differences. All delegates discussed particular issues and responsibilities of the SIRENE Bureau in rapport to national and international proceedings. Furthermore a presentation of the expected future in relation with SIS II was given from the leading trainer.  
Information on the Schengen Convention, entering and querying alerts in the Schengen Information System (SIS), multiple alerts, post-hit procedures, use of forms, consultation procedures, misused identities and other relevant legal acts was given and shared during the seminar. In short: 360° of the role of SIRENE Bureau operators were covered during the seminar.
Bearing in mind that some that some participants were much more experienced, information was presented not only at an elementary level involving the basic procedures but also from a more advanced point of view involving some detailed aspects.
Overall the outcome of the seminar was very positive. The collaborative atmosphere that surrounded the seminar, much helped by the support from the Swiss Police Institut and the Swiss SIRENE Bureau, created an ideal environment for learning, sharing and networking.

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On Monday 3 December 2012, Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs visited CEPOL – the European Police College, in Bramshill.
During the visit, Commissioner Malmström met with the Director and members of the Governing Board to discuss the agency’s tasks and activities. She also met with agency staff.
‘Training for law enforcement officers is of paramount importance to ensure that police forces across Europe have the capacity and skills to deal with the ever-evolving nature of cross-border crime and threats. The training and learning activities developed by CEPOL helps strengthen police cooperation and capacity’ said Mrs Malmström.
Dr Banfi, Director of CEPOL, added ‘It was a pleasure to welcome the Commissioner to our agency. The Commissioner’s interest in our work demonstrates the significance of law enforcement training for the home affairs agenda and overall internal security of the EU.’
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The 28th Governing Board meeting took place in Nicosia, Cyprus from 13-14 November 2012. Mr. Zacharias Chrysostomou, Chair of the Governing Board, opened the meeting by welcoming the representatives of the Member States, the Commission, Europol, the President of AEPC, and the representatives of the candidate and associate countries.

 The main topics discussed at the meeting included:

·          Agency Progress Report – To October 2012

·          CEPOL Legal Basis

-           Update on the New legal Basis for CEPOL

·          European Training Scheme (ETS)

- Update on the European Training Scheme (ETS) Policy

·          Policing in Europe

-           Report on the progress on development of accredited Master Course “Policing in Europe” and the proposed way forward

·          Evaluation of CEPOL Training Activities

·          Databases for Researchers, Teachers & Lecturers

·          Stakeholder Survey

·          CEPOL Strategy

·          Audits

·          Training Need Assessment

·          Budgeting and Planning

-             Budget Implementation 2012

-             Budget and Work Programme 2013

-             Preliminary Draft Budget and Work Programme 2014

-             Multi Annual Staff Policy Plan (MASSP 2014-2016)

·          Implementing Rules to EU Staff Regulations 

·          Rationalisation of CEPOL – Working Groups

-           Assessment of implementation of Decision 13/2012/GB and its impact on the Agency’s business continuity

            -           Establishing Working Groups

·          CEPOL Sub-strategies

·          External Relations 

·          Certification of Management System

·          Irish Presidency Priorities

The Governing Board adopted the following decisions:

30/2012/GB  Adopting the European Police College’s Updated (Multi -Annual) Strategy Plan 2010-2014 and amending decision 43/2010/GB and 31/2011/GB

31/2012/GB  Adopting the European Police College’s Key Performance and Performance Indicators 2013 and amending Decision 34/2011/GB

32/2012/GB  Adopting the Work Programme 2013

33/2012/GB  Adopting the Budget for the Financial Year 2013

34/2012/GB  Adopting the Preliminary Draft Work Programme 2014

35/2012/GB Adopting the Preliminary Draft Estimate of Revenues and Expenditures for the Financial Year 2014

36/2012/GB  Adopting the Multi-Annual Staff Policy Plan 2014-2016

37/2012/GB Establishing the Working Group for Planning, Programming, Training Needs Analysis and Budgeting

38/2012/GB Establishing the Working Group for the Cybercrime Online Learning Module

39/2012/GB  Establishing the Working Group for the SIS II – SIRENE Online Learning Module

40/2012/GB Establishing the Working Group for the Money Laundering Online Learning Module

41/2012/GB Establishing the Working Group on the Implementation of the Master Course “Policing Course”

42/2012/GB Establishing the Working Group on the Implementation and Evaluation of CEPOL Research and Science Activities for Knowledge Transfer

43/2012/GB  Adopting the Communications Strategy

44/2012/GB  Approving the Working Arrangement with Russia

The Chair of the Governing Board presented:

-           The Draft Outcome of Proceedings of the 27^th Governing Board Meeting for adoption

The representative from Cyprus, Ms Kyriaki Lambrianidou presented:

-           The Outcomes of the Presidency Conference “Overcoming Attrition in Domestic Violence through Policing”, which was held in Cyprus, 10 – 12 July, 2012.

The Director presented the following:

-           Agency Progress Report until October 2012

-           Stakeholder Survey. The Governing Board took note of the /report.

-           Update of the CEPOL Strategy 2010 -2014

-           Update of KPIs and PIs

-           Annual audit by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). The Governing Board took note of the documents.

-           DG Home – ISEC Exchange Programme. The Governing Board took note of the documents.

-           Rationalisation of CEPOL – Working Groups. The Governing Board took note of the document concerning the Assessment of implementation of Decision 13/2012/GB and its impact on the Agency’s business continuity.

-           External Relations. The Governing Board took note of the document concerning the Progress Highlights.

-           Certification of Management System

The Deputy Director presented the following:

-           Policing in Europe

-           Evaluation of CEPOL Training Activities. The Governing Board took note of the documents.

-           Databases for Researchers, Teachers & Lecturers

-           Work Programme 2013

-           Preliminary draft Work Programme 2014

-           Preliminary Draft Work Programme 2014:  Annex A Preliminary List of CEPOL Activities. The Governing Board took note of the documents.

-           European Training Scheme (ETS)

-           CEPOL Legal Basis

-           Any Other Competent Business

The Head of Corporate Services Department presented the following:

-           Budget Implementation 2012 [including budget transfers]. The Governing Board took note of the documents.

-           Draft Budget 2013.

-           Preliminary Draft Budget 2014. The Governing Board took note of the documents.

-           Implementing Rules to EU Staff Regulations. The Governing Board took note of the documents.

The Acting Head of Training Unit presented the following:

-           Training Need Assessment. The Governing Board took note of the documents.

The Chair of the Audit Panel presented the following:

-           Internal Audit Panel. The Governing Board took note of the documents.

The European Commission presented the following:

-           The issue of the possibility of merging CEPOL and EUROPOL within the topic “The New Legal Basis for CEPOL and European Training Skills (ETS)”.

The representative of Ireland presented the following:

            -           Irish Presidency Priorities

The 29th Governing Board meeting is scheduled for 19-20 March 2013 in Ireland.

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The CEPOL Course on Cybercrime was organized and delivered under the cooperation of the Cepol Italian National Unit and Arma dei Carabinieri. It was held in Velletri (Rome)  at the Istituto Superiore Tecniche Investigative  (the Italian Institute of  Superior Invetigation Techniques of Arma dei Carabinieri).
25 experts coming from 17 Countries including Switzerland and Turkey  shared their experiences, compared their national laws on this matter and deepened their knowledge on the European rules in this field.
During the Course, a special attention was given to the respective national experiences as well as to the cases studies which have been presented with enthusiasm and a lot of data by all the participants, in particular by the experts from private companies such as eBay-PayPal Google which contributed in carrying out this event.

The contribution given by Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale (R.O.S.) Arma dei Carabinieri is to be pointed out Mar. Ca. Giorgio Ruggieri, the lecturer from R.O.S. Carabinieri, focused his presentation on the following aspects: if in one hand the commission of crimes is a social behaviour of the human being on the other hand, nowadays, the digital communication channels is a very silently pervasive reality. Therefore “Cybercrime“ isn’t anymore a proper definition of the criminal reality: would be more specific the definition “Crimes committed through the use of digital communication channels”.
Assuming that the LEA have the ambition of delivering investigation on criminal organization, the first step to be done consists in providing the police officers with the awareness of the digital communication channels and trends of the Criminal Organizations.
There is a vast range of data and services available via the Internet which may be employed in an investigation to counter criminal use of the Internet, the lecturer from R.O.S. Carabinieri analysed and explained two of those : WiFi communication Channels and Skype investigation. While the first part of both the sessions provided the attendees with the explication of these two realities, the second part was related to the activities to be done to gather pieces of data useful for the ongoing investigation (site survey, profiling the wifi clients, capturing a VoIP call and analysing the content as well as reproducing the voices, geolocating a Skype user to identify a criminal or to identify the members of an organized crime…).
During the second part of these sessions the attendees were also provided with some practical case studies, to focus the specific use of these solution in real cases, and paramount significance was given also to the importance of assigning a well defined identity to the data acquired to avoid a possible reject during the prosecution. Some example on how to assign a non repudiable identity to the acquired pieces of data was shown providing the acquired data with: GPS coordinates, timestamps, hardware signatures captured from the communication originated uniquely by the criminal’s device. Paramount importance was given also, within the mentioned lectures, to the “chain of custody” of the acquired evidences. In other words the attendees faced the technical knowledge applied to real investigation to retrieve evidences. The R.O.S. lecturer provided also the attendees with the opportunity to test the skills learned during the course with a scenario. In the given scenario all the police officers were asked to contribute as investigators to retrieve evidences in a kidnapping test live case created.
A proactive approach to investigative strategies and supporting specialist tools, which capitalize on evolving Internet resources, promotes the efficient identification of data and services likely to yield the maximum benefit to an investigation and this was the reason why R.O.S. of Arma dei Carabinieri developed the following guidelines, which have been disseminated through the UCD Masters programme in Cybercrime Investigation and Forensic Computing, and implemented by domestic enforcement authorities of many member States of Interpol and Europol:

The mentioned Protocol of Systematic Approach (P.S.A.) presented in its details by the Commander of Reparto Indagini Tecniche of R.O.S. Col. Mario Conio, aroused high interest among the attendees as investigators for the simplicity of the steps suggested to identify and monitor the sensitive communication channels with investigative purposes. The mentioned Protocol will be part of the UNODC document “The use of Internet for terrorist purposes” that will be officially published on the 22th of October in Vienna.
In this framework, all the experts who took part in this meeting held in Rome expressed their intention to keep in contact with each other and to exchange examples of good practices. The Italian CEPOL Unit ensured its availability in supporting them in this activity, according to the “leading principles” of CEPOL.
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Dr Bánfi took the opportunity to highlight the achievements of CEPOL in recent years, notably the progress made in the quality and quantity of training and learning activities offered by the European Police College.
The number of police officers participating in CEPOL activities has grown from 2,300 in 2009 to 4,300 in 2011 and this number is expected to be higher in 2012. Similarly, the number of activities has increased from 91 in 2010 to 106 in 2011. The satisfaction rate of participants is, on average, 93%.
In the past years, CEPOL’s training approach has become more integrated into the EU landscape and a large portion of the annual training calendar is dedicated to activities on the EU Policy Cycle for Serious and Organised Crime. 
From a governance perspective, Dr Bánfi underlined that CEPOL operates in a legal, regular and reliable manner and has taken significant steps to streamline its governance structure to ensure a more results-oriented approach, which has also resulted in reduced operating costs.
The current economic climate and related austerity measures have had an effect on police services in Europe, with training budgets also being cut. As the EU agency dedicated to fostering police cooperation through learning, CEPOL is well placed to support learning for law enforcement officers and is ready to assist future efforts to increase and improve the training toolbox that is currently available to law enforcement officers in field of judicial and police cooperation.
Dr Bánfi’s presentation followed a speech from Mr Reinhard Priebe, Director for Internal Security, DG Home Affairs, who announced that, in the context of reviews of the legal frameworks of CEPOL and EUROPOL, the European Commission is reflecting on the possibility of combining both agencies.
Following his speech, Dr Banfi heard statements and answered questions from members of the LIVE Committee, before summing up statements from Mr Priebe and Dr Bánfi.
Dr Bánfi’s speech is now available.
Streaming video of the event is available on the European Parliament website.
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In the same period in which the Annual Report drawn up by Legambiente on Environmental Organized Crime was published, the CEPOL course on Illegal Trafficking of Waste and Organized Crime was held in Rome at the Scuola di Perfezionamento per le Forze di Polizia  (the Italian interagency College of Advanced Studies for Law Enforcement Officials). The course ran from 2 – 5 October 2012.Experts coming from 18 European countries shared their experiences, compared their national laws on this matter and deepened their knowledge on the European rules in this field.
During the course, a special attention was given to the respective national experiences as well as to the case studies which have been presented with enthusiasm and a lot of data by all the participants, in particular by the experts from Spain and Malta, which supported Italy in carrying out this event.
The contribution given by Europol is to be pointed out. The lecturer from Europol focused his presentation on two aspects: the analysis of the importance of this phenomenon and police cooperation tools, available at European and international level.
Also the contribution given by the University professors is to be underlined: the prominent academic researcher in the field of Transnational Crime (Università Cattolica in Milan) highlighted some criminogenic elements contained in those legislations which result to be too complex,  as well as the strategic importance of the instruments aimed at preventing  criminal phenomena, with a special reference to the Illegal Trafficking of Waste and Organized Crime.
As regards Italy, this course has been organized by the Environment Protection Special Units of the Carabinieri Corps and of the National Corps of Foreign Rangers.
Besides the Illegal Trafficking of Waste, also other types of crimes have been dealt with, such as trafficking of animals, food fraud, security in the food production and distribution chain,  which are included in the Italian term  “ecomafie”  -Organized Environmental Crime – (recently used also by the FBI).
The contents dealt with during the course of this year are similar to those analyzed on the occasion of the Course held last year. CEPOL Course No 05/2012 not only  focused on environmental crime, but it also provided a comprehensive scenario  of the crimes related to  the environment protection and health security in the European Union, also in view of  possible  further activities to be carried out by CEPOL, such as the implementation of a Common Curriculum on this topic.
Moreover, the participants have been urged to take into account also the exchange programmes as a possibility of cooperation supported by the Training European Agency. In fact, in 2013, the exchange programmes will dealt with the broad topic concerning “organized crime”, which could include also the issue related to trafficking of waste.
In this framework, all the experts who took part in this meeting held in Rome expressed their intention to keep in contact with each other and to exchange examples of good practices. The Italian CEPOL Unit ensured its availability in supporting them in this activity, according to the “leading principles” of CEPOL.
Senior National Police Officer Rossanna Farina
Head of the Italian CEPOL Unit
Vice Consigliere Ministeriale
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The Swedish National Police Academy in Stockholm, Sweden hosted CEPOL course 2012/15 ”Police interviews” on 11-14 September 2012. The overall aim of the course was to increase understanding of factors that influence the reliability of information received in investigative interviews.
The course, organised by Sweden, also benefited from supportby the United Kingdom and the EU Agency Frontex. Irena Höglund, lecturer in Behavioural Science at the Swedish National Police Academy was the course manager. Twenty eight participants from 14 Member States plus Iceland attended the event. Experts from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Sweden added their expertise.
There is a lot of research going on within the field of investigative interviewing and this CEPOL course gave participants an update on the most recent developments. Experts included experienced police investigators as well as academics from the fields of Forensic Psychology. The course material content centred on presentations and group discussions. This gave participants the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience, pertaining to investigative interviewing from their respective countries. The programme included a visit to a Child Advocacy Centre in Stockholm, where the police provide a child friendly environment when interviewing children about suspected abuse. Mr Emanuel Said, Frontex, gave a presentation on how the PEACE-model is used in voluntary interviews with migrants, at borders and detention centres where Frontex has joint operations.
Most presentations dealt with concrete measures that investigators can take to increase the chance of gaining reliable information in interviews. Amongst the key speakers was Dr Coral Dando from the University of Lancaster. She presented recent developments to the enhanced cognitive interview that may increase the usability of the method for police officers on patrol. Dr Dando also gave a presentation on her recent research into the most effective way of presenting evidence during a suspect interview. A structured, gradual disclosure of evidence has been shown to increase interviewer’s ability to assess the veracity of the suspect’s statement. The same research has also demonstrated that interviewers who focus on non-verbal cues to deception are less likely to make a correct veracity judgement. Another key speaker was Dr Lorraine Hope from the University of Portsmouth, who gave a presentation on an interview technique that is still under development. The purpose of the time line technique is to facilitate the interviewee’s ability to recall the chronology of actions in cases with multiple perpetrators. Dr Hope also spoke about the Self Administered Interview (SAI), a new tool for investigative interviewing at the crime scene that has shown good results in field trials in the UK.
Participant Gareth McAlister, Detective Constable and Instructor in Crime Training at PSNI College in Northern Ireland, was pleased with the CEPOL-course and appreciated Dr. Hope’s presentation on the Self Administered Interview.
– It has been a hugely enjoyable week. With the SAI-method, we can more easily and quickly identify relevant witnesses. We can concentrate on witnesses that we give priority, and thereby receive more information earlier on in the investigation process. That is useful in times of increasing pressure on resources.
– The learning process definitely continues outside the seminars, and it is a great opportunity to see how new findings and methods are applied practically. Even though I have a substantial amount of background knowledge, it is always worthwhile to see it from a new perspective: we have a lot to learn from each other regarding interviews with witnesses and suspects. It does not matter where in Europe you are from – we all share the same challenges in our work.
Criminal Psychologist Agnes Csernyik-Pòth is eager to spread the new research findings regarding police interviews to the Police College in Budapest.
– The CEPOL course is a very interesting forum to catch up on new research. The networking together with European colleagues is valuable to share problems, ideas and solutions, and to get to know each other better. The SAI method was very meaningful to know more about – I intend to inform my colleagues, students and police officers in training about it.
In addition to the knowledge gained during the course week, participants will further benefit from post course activities, letting them keep in touch and exchange views and experiences using the Learning Management System on CEPOL’s web-platform, e-Net.
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Thirty-four supervisors and operators from 25 national SIRENE bureaus of the SCHENGEN area were involved in the CEPOL advanced training which took place at the French Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Police (ENSP) from 3-7 September 2012.
This training session concentrated on a crucial issue: how to better process the increase of information flow in the Schengen Information System (SIS) whilst many bureaus are understaffed.
CEPOL and the SIRENE Training Committee aimed the course at those officers whose level of experience and knowledge could generate creative solutions within this complex SIS environment.
Claudio Schettini, training manager from SIRENE Rome, assisted by Veronika Turakova and Morten Praetorius from SIRENE Bratislava and Copenhagen moderated the workshops for the whole week.
The ENSP International Relations Office provided the back office and took part in the networking aspects of the course, by leading cultural activities and a session on the European security policies.
The evaluation showed a high level of satisfaction from the target audience, with many positive comments such as:
“The welcome and facilities were amazing. Three groups with three trainers over a course of three days is as straight forward an organisation as can be!”
"The CEPOL seminar and the organization by the ENSP were completely satisfying. The organizers were able to answer participants’ expectations and the trainers were all well prepared. They dealt with all the important subjects and explained perfectly the stakes of this training session."
“The use of language between the Sirene Offices has troubled me many times in the past as a Sirene Operator. I pointed out the problem and it was inserted in the Fact Sheets that are to be presented to the SIRENE Committee”.
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The Police College of Finland in Tampere hosted CEPOL course “34/2012 TOPSPOC – Top Senior Police Officers: The Stockholm Programme Realisation, Module 3” on 10-14 September 2012. Twenty-two participants from 16 different CEPOL Member States as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland took part in this course. The expert coaches came from Ireland and Belgium. This course was part of a four module activity. The previous two modules were hosted by Austria and Ireland, and the remaining fourth module will be hosted by Portugal later this year.
Course Manager Peter Sund opened the course by welcoming the participants to the Police College of Finland and by introducing the course program, the expert speakers and a summary of the National Police of Finland.
Following Mr Sund’s introduction Ms. Sanna Palo from the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation gave a lecture on the course’s communication theme with a presentation entitled “Challenges for Policing in the EU”. Mr Matti Heinonen from the Finnish Immigration Service followed and held two lectures on the topics of The Driving Forces behind Global Migration and European Immigration and Asylum Systems.
A large part of the course was dedicated to group work that was started in the previous modules. The course coaches however also provided some action learning sessions. On the module’s last day Ms Mariana Raimundo, Portugal, gave a presentation that introduced Module 4. The course’s official programme was closed by a feedback session facilitated by Mr Sund.
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WEBINAR: 20 September 2012 14:00 CET
Join the EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator and experts from EU agencies for a webinar and online discussion on the steps that are being taken to eradicate trafficking in human beings.
Hundreds of thousands of victims are trafficked across the EU every year. Trafficking in human beings – which can be classified as a modern form of slavery – is a serious crime, involving a violation of basic human rights.
Ms Myria Vassiliadou, EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator will present the ‘EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012 – 2016)’ adopted by the European Commission earlier this year, as part of a keynote address.
The webinar, hosted by CEPOL – the European Police College, is open to everyone. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions to the Anti-Trafficking Coordinator as part of a moderated discussion. Ms Vassiliadiou will be joined by:

• Ms Michèle Coninsx, President of Eurojust, on how the EU’s judicial cooperation unit is taking action against THB
• Mr Duco van Heel from Frontex on how integrated border management helps prevent trafficking in human beings
• Steve Harvey from Europol on Europol’s role in leading the fight against THB

The discussion will be moderated by Dr Ferenc Bánfi, Director of CEPOL.
Register for the webinar at: http://www.cepol.europa.eu/index.php?id=thb-webinar-2012

To find out more about trafficking in human beings, go to www.ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking

About CEPOL

The European Police College (CEPOL) is a European Union agency dedicated to supporting a European approach to the fight against crime. CEPOL’s core business is learning and training aimed at senior police officers, experts and trainers, with a focus on issues with a European – or cross-border – dimension, such as trafficking in human beings, counter-terrorism and cybercrime. CEPOL is located in Bramshill, in the UK.
Go to Source

The 7th issue of the CEPOL European Police Science and Research Bulletin has been published and is now ready for download.
The 7th issue of the CEPOL European Police Science and Research Bulletin has been published and is now ready for download. The `summer-edition` features an article about The European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) as well as reports about organisational change in European policing, Multimedia tools against violence and an essay on identifying learning points in criminal investigations.
The 7th issues of the European Police Science and Research Bulletin, as well as previous ones, can be downloaded from the “Research & Science Publications” section of this website.
The 7th issue of the European Police Science and Research Bulletin is the last for the time being and concludes the current first series. The Bulletin will be back in early 2013 with in a revised new format.
Go to Source

Latvia hosted CEPOL course 45/2012 ‘Crime Prevention through Environmental Design’ on 11-15 June 2012. The activity was held on the premises of the State Police of Latvia in Riga. Twenty participants and nine trainers form 15 EU Member States plus Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia attended the course.

Throughout the week high level lecturers took the floor. Lecturers were invited from different Member States taking into account their professional experience and making sure that the topic was covered from as many perspectives as possible, not only the police side, but also the public’s and architects’. The course proved that implementation of CPTED in Central and Eastern Europe will be topical for a long time. Participants from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic acknowledged that these ideas are only in the process of being developed in their countries and still a lot of things, including additional training sessions for professionals, need to take place to truly implement this concept. This situation is not comparable with, for example, the Netherlands, Denmark or Ireland where these ideas have been a part of the planning process for approximately 20 years. Participants also acknowledged that they very much enjoyed the multidisciplinary approach to the topic as well as site visits and practical tasks in the working groups. The Latvian organisers were pleased to host the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkish participants who were themselves very much inspired to hear about the CPTED concept and informed the course about their intentions to bring these ideas back home and even organise special events to promote them.

The course also raised a lot of interest from the mass media and interest in changing the environment for a safer and better life in cooperation with police services.

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France’s Gendarmerie Nationale General Headquarters, in Issy-Les-Moulineaux near Paris, hosted CEPOL course “Forensic Science and Policing: Forensic interpretation and Intelligence” on 18-22 June 2012. The activity was implemented by the Forensic and Criminal Intelligence Agency and Forensic Sciences Research Institute of the Gendarmerie Nationale. The course was supported by Belgium, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Europol.

Twenty-five participants, all investigators and/or forensic practitioners, from 19 Member States attended the event. Managed by Colonel Frank Crispino, the course was opened with presentations by General Hebrard and Colonel Daoust, from the Gendarmerie Nationale. During the following days expert lecturers took the floor: Br. Gen. Schuliar, LCL Servettaz, LCL Depriester, Cne Brunel-Dupin and discussed investigations on crime scenes especially the coordination of interveeners, the traces on the crime scenes and the beginning of interpretation.

External experts Prof. Esseiva and Prof. Champod from Switzerland respectively presented “Chemical Profiling and Backtrack Investigations – Preparation of Criminal Charges. A Swiss and European Perspective” and “One Logical and Illustrative Approach for Different Traces: Bayesian Networks”. M. Van Renterghem, Europol, gave a lecture entitled “Exploiting DNA Data to Combat International Crime – Understanding the flow of Forensic Information in the EU” whilst the National Police improvement Agency (NPIA) representative from the UK, M. Wilson, presented “The value of footwear intelligence for police investigations”. Both presentations were highly appreciated and well received by all of the course participants. Last but not least, subsequent to the lecture “the Forensic Advisor” led by Ms Barret (INCC), participants were kept busy with case studies organized by Ms Barret and implemented by the whole training team.

At the end of the course, it emerged that due to technological evolution, forensic science is becoming more and more efficient and meaningful in the lead of judicial investigations. For ages, the trace was only considered as proof of the existence of an item or judicial fact: a piece of evidence. Today, we have to consider that a trace is not as limited anymore. Indeed, trace interpretation which will be done, would certainly help to solve judicial cases; but an extensive interpretation, taking into account its limits, will prove really useful at strategic level in determining the political future of security forces.

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Close to 100 senior homicide investigators representing nations from the entire European continent participated in the dedicated conference organised at Europol HQ in The Hague, Netherlands on 25 – 27 June 2012.

The high level expert conference was co-hosted by Europol and CEPOL and received the support of the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission [TAIEX] and the Association of Chief Police Officers [ACPO].

As the event was initiated by the Europol Homicide Working Group, its Chair Commander Simon Foy presided over the conference. Presenters included senior experts from NCIS Norway, Oslo Police HQ, Helsinki Police Department, London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Canterbury Christ Church University and last but not least Europol.

The participants actively discussed and contributed to extremely actual topics like the Utoya mass murder, school shootings and honour based killings; knowledge was updated on the exchange of forensic data and JIT cooperation.

To capitalise further on the benefit of bringing together such a large group of homicide investigators, all participants were invited to the online expert communities of CEPOL and Europol. In doing so the exchange of knowledge and expertise surpasses the benefit of this unique event.

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The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has published a set of “public service principles” that should guide the conduct of EU civil servants. The principles take account of best practice in the Member States and were established through an initial consultation with the European Network of Ombudsmen. The Ombudsman also carried out a public consultation on a first draft of the principles. The responses to the consultation from citizens, civil servants, interest groups, EU institutions and other organisations were of great value in finalising the principles.

Mr Diamandouros commented: “The public service principles embody fundamental ethical standards. As such, they constitute a vital component of the administrative culture of service to which the EU institutions adhere. At a time when the European Union is facing a severe crisis, the principles can help to build greater trust between citizens and the EU institutions.”

CEPOL, as one of the European Commission’s decentralised Agencies strives to work following advise and guidelines issued by the European Ombudsman. Public Service principles outlines work related principles that CEPOL firmly believes in and supports.

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An act of terrorism serves a twofold purpose: besides the obvious catastrophic consequences of such a random act of violence, there is a more subtle, more powerful effect at work: the psychological undermining of the population’s trust and confidence in the authorities that are sworn to safeguard them. It embeds into the collective mind of the citizens, a sense of fear and dread, a feeling of powerlessness and insecurity for the future and the days that lay ahead.

As the EU’s relevant authorities on preventing and combating terrorism, the heavy burden of assuring the populace and ensuring that they continue to enjoy the same privileges of freedom, liberty and justice as they have done for so many years, falls squarely upon our shoulders. Terrorism as a phenomenon cannot be fought through spasmodic and individual actions but only through determination, cooperation and unity.

The CEPOL Unit of the Hellenic Police Academy, with all of the above in mind, undertook the responsibility of organising a CEPOL Seminar on “Counter Terrorism Awareness”. The event took place in Athens, Greece on 03- 06 July 2012.

The activity’s target group was Senior, middle-ranked Police Officers or experts from EU Member States, Associated countries and EU Agencies specifically involved in Counter Terrorism activities within their organisations. The seminar was supported by experts from Italy, Spain and Europol as well as Greek experts from various services that deal with Counter – Terrorism.

The seminar’s main objectives, which according to the participants’ feedback were fully met, were:

• Given a learning situation and case studies, the participants will be able to understand and contrast examples of different national approaches and experiences connected to intelligence management and planning, related to real cases of Terrorist organisations.
• Given a learning situation and case studies, the participant will be able to identify, differentiate and contrast a number of backgrounds to terrorism (religion, radicalisation, political).
• Given a learning situation, the participants will on the one hand enhance their knowledge regarding left-wing terrorism, underline and exchange good practices and on the other hand identify and recommend methods for the successful fight against this type of terrorism.
• Given a learning situation and feedback from various European Agencies/Services, the participant will be able to indicate and categorise different instruments of European Cooperation in the field of Counter Terrorism.
• Given a learning environment and CEPOL’s e-Net, the participant will be able to establish an ongoing network with colleagues from EU Member- States.

During the Seminar’s opening and after an introductory CEPOL – EU and e-Net awareness presentation, the first day focused on Europe’s tools for cooperation and prevention of terrorism phenomena whilst a presentation on the CoPPra Project given by non other than the project’s manager himself, he too a seminar participant. The day continued with a look into the Italian Anarchist pro-Insurrection Movement and the Italian approach to preventive measures on counter terrorism and concluded with the threat posed by Al Qaeda in the Maghreb to Europe, provided by the Spanish expert.

Day two opened with a focus on domestic terrorist groups followed by the “CTU’s strategy for the successful confrontation of domestic terrorism”. The day’s program was enriched with a presentation by the Spanish participant, an expert himself on the “Use and misuse of the Internet by terrorism”. A presentation was delivered on “Religiously motivated terrorism”, supported by an extensive workshop, wherein the participants were given a hypothetical bomb threat scenario that required them to gather intelligence, assess the level of threat and find the proper channels for communication with CT Units in other Member States, in order to gather the necessary information.

The third day’s presentations started with a spotlight on an important domestic Greek terrorist group, their emergence and activity, their transformation from an anarchist group to a terrorist organisation with international range and the two years of sequential arrests of their members that led to the dismantling of their operations. The next presentation offered a view on the forensic applications of evidence found on terrorist attack sites with: “A secret hidden in tinny evidence”. The workings concluded with the workshop “Table Top exercise Achilles’ Heel”, which was a practical audio visual exercise based on a specific scenario and structured hypothetical real-time questions.

The last day’s workings commenced with a presentation – “Introduction to the basic IED circuit; pressure cookers cases – Ways of diffusion, based on field experiments”, which was enriched by the actual videos of the field trials. The final presentation of this activity was dedicated to “Dying to kill: a general view on suicide terrorism”. Following that, the outcomes of the seminar were reported while recommendations and conclusions were drafted. Closing the seminar, the Director of the Hellenic Police Academy, Police Brigadier General BALIS Dimitrios, delivered the certificates to the participants.

The use of CEPOL’s e-Net fully supported the activity throughout the duration of the seminar and was greatly appreciated by both lecturers and participants.

A participant from the Netherlands wrote the following in his evaluation:
The Awareness Seminar was very well organized. It was a very good combination of learning and networking. The program was well selected. The e-Net was new to me and in the future I will use this system for information and communication with my colleagues. The lessons we learned from the Greek colleagues were very interesting. I learned a lot about left wing terrorism and its organizations. In our country we have experience with extremism but not with left wing terrorism. In the table top exercise, we had the possibility to discuss with different countries and their approaches. All the learned lessons were used in the table top exercise. For my work in the Netherlands, I can use the knowledge in presentations for my colleagues and my work as a detective specialist. My compliments to the Greek colleagues for a very good week.

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Within the framework of CEPOL activity, the sub directorate for training and competency development of the Ministry of Interior in Lognes, France organised, with support from Denmark and Germany, a seminar on “Public Order, Security and Public Private Partnerships during Major Events” from the 9th to 13th July 2012.

The event brought together 22 senior police officers involved in the management of security during major events, coming from 14 different Member States of the European Union.

Different presentations on the topic of planification and operational management of security during major events were developed during the seminar. Through practical exercises, specific technical materials were presented. A visit to the Stade de France, an intervention by the head of security at EuroDisney and the French Football Federation all illustrated the topic of public private partnerships.

During the various contributions and workshops, participants had the opportunity to exchange experiences and good practise on the topics at hand. This seminar was enriched by the presence amongst the experts of Préfet Mr Hubert WEIGEL, who presented his vast knowledge and experience as the person responsible for the G20 Summit in Cannes, November 2011 and by Mr John SCKALETZ, responsible for the climate conference held in Copenhagen in December 2009 whose presentations had enlightening crossovers.

Finally, for the first time within the framework of CEPOL activities, the Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) with which France and 21 other Member States have been working for many years on the topic of security during major events, was associated to this seminar. UNICRI’s IPO model was presented and an enlarged cooperation offer through the “House of Major Events” was received.

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Within the framework of the Cyprus Presidency of the Governing Board of CEPOL, a Presidency Conference on “Overcoming Attrition in Domestic Violence through Policing” took place in Limassol, Cyprus, on 10-12 July 2012. The Cyprus Police Academy undertook the organisation of this conference with the contribution of experts from Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, CEPOL and the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).
The conference was organised as part of a broader project initiated by Cyprus Police with the overall aim of adopting a European Union handbook of Good Police Practices in overcoming attrition in domestic violence, through the Law Enforcement Working Party (LEWP), which has included the issue on its agenda.
The objectives of the conference were:

1. To disseminate, discuss and gain practical / professional as well as academic / research oriented knowledge on the subject of attrition in domestic violence.
2. To present, discuss and share best or police related practices in overcoming attrition in domestic violence.
3. To enrich CEPOL’s e-Net on domestic violence through sharing police training material, tools and methodologies related to the subject matter.
4. To supplement the CEPOL Common Curriculum on Domestic Violence.
5. To present, discuss and edit an EU Police Manual of Good Practices in overcoming attrition in domestic violence with the aim of submitting it for approval and dissemination to the Council of the European Union through the LEWP.

The Chair of the CEPOL Governing Board, Chief Superintendent Zacharias Chrysostomou, addressed the conference giving a brief introduction to the importance of fighting domestic violence. Mr Chrysostomou in his speech, mentioned, amongst others the following:
“For the Cyprus Police, domestic violence is a type of crime to which we attribute special emphasis. During the past few years a number of steps have been taken in order to prevent and combat this phenomenon that affects the lives of numerous people. We should not forget that a large proportion of victims of domestic violence are children who are the most vulnerable and whose traumatic experiences remain with them throughout their lives with devastating effects on their well being and consequently on the society. Domestic violence needs to be holistically addressed if we are to effectively prevent and combat it. The issue of attrition, for which we are here to discuss and try to find ways to overcome it, is of vital importance in the area of combating domestic violence.”
The Chief of Cyprus Police, Mr. Michail Papageorgiou in his welcoming speech mentioned:
“There is great interest and willingness to address the issue of attrition, finding practices or solutions that will decrease this phenomenon. Dealing with victims of crime is not an easy task, and when you will be discussing issues of attrition you should all have in mind the vulnerabilities and difficulties victims undergo when dealing with the criminal justice system.”
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order Dr Stelios Himonas, on behalf of the Minister of Justice and Public Order, whilst addressing the conference stressed that:
“The global phenomenon of domestic violence is disturbing and disgraceful enough. However, attrition in domestic violence cases is perhaps even more upsetting. The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, have set the tackling of the latter as one of our top priorities. Our goal is to produce an EU Police Manual of Good Practices in Overcoming Attrition in Domestic Violence, which will be a helpful tool in the minimisation of attrition in domestic and sexual violence cases. By domestic violence we primarily refer to violence committed between family members, but especially abuse between current or previous intimate partners. Attrition, as you are all very well aware, is the “weakening” that occurs to a case between the moment it is reported to the police and the final court outcome.”
During his speech at the opening ceremony of the conference Dr Detlef Shroeder, Deputy Director of CEPOL, welcomed the efforts made for preparing the Handbook and stressed the importance of fighting domestic violence. Furthermore, he confirmed that CEPOL supports the efforts being made in this direction.
Thirty-seven representatives from nineteen EU Member States attended the conference. Most of the participants are considered experts in the field of Domestic Violence as they deal with such issues on a daily basis.
The conference was beneficial to both the experts and the participants, since all were given the opportunity to discuss issues during the presentations, attend workshops and exchange ideas on best practices that can be adopted when dealing with cases containing attrition. Each participant’s expertise and competence contributed positively to the fulfillment of the above mentioned objectives and helped to identify possible common methods and practices that could be adopted by all Member States in response to this common challenge they face.
Mr Costas Veis, Head of the Cyprus Police Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Office, gave a review of the report, which was prepared for Cyprus Police, on overcoming attrition in domestic violence cases and mentioned the aims of this study and research. He also analysed the need to put forward a project in line with the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU and its priority areas that would lead to a manual on Overcoming Attrition in Domestic Violence through Policing which could be used by all Law Enforcement Agencies in the EU.
Dr Marianne Hester from Bristol University, United Kingdom (UK), in her presentation regarding her research in domestic violence, stressed that women experienced police practice as positive and supportive, especially with minor violence offences. Furthermore, she concluded that there is a need for pro-active and multi-agency support with chronic male offenders and the criminal justice system needs to pursue the case where man is very dangerous.
Dr Amanda Robinson from Cardiff University, UK, analysed the subject of overcoming attrition in domestic violence as an objective requiring a victim-centred multi agency approach. Mrs Robinson also gave an overview of the UK approach to domestic violence and more specifically to the use and effectiveness of MARAC’s (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences).
Mr Jurgen Schmitt shared valuable information regarding the new method that was introduced by Rhineland-Palatinate Police, Germany, in order to develop a new police philosophy to handle cases of domestic violence. He also mentioned the objectives of this strategy which are the immediate cessation of violence, effective assistance to victims and the termination of injustices.
Mr John McCann referred to the strategies used in Ireland to overcome attrition and mentioned, amongst others, that the Police organisations are the key players to reduce attrition and to support the victims. He stressed that, firm actions must be taken against perpetrators and such cases must be fully investigated.
Mr Sami Nevala, representative of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), analysed a large study conducted by the Agency in relation to Domestic Violence and stated inter alia that the results of this study will be announced next year.
The experts from the UK, Mr Steve Mogg, Mrs Manjula Nayee, Mrs Ynonne Scott and Mrs Denise Blackburn analysed the UK Criminal Justice System’s Responses to Attrition.
The outcome of proceedings of the conference and specifically the conclusions of the workshops on the Handbook will be taken into consideration by Cyprus Police in revising the first draft of the Handbook. The draft of the Handbook, which was discussed during the conference, was added to CEPOL’s e-Net on July 11th and interested parties are invited to contribute additional comments until August 14th. The results of the Conference and the Handbook will be presented during the LEWP meeting on the 5th of September 2012, as well as to the 28th Governing Board meeting of CEPOL, which will take place in Cyprus on 13-14 November 2012.
The conference was concluded with the closing ceremony and the awarding of the appreciation letters to the experts and certificates to the participants.
Go to Source

The 7th issue of the CEPOL European Police Science and Research Bulletin has been published and is now ready for download.

The 7th issue of the CEPOL European Police Science and Research Bulletin has been published and is now ready for download. The `summer-edition` features an article about The European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) as well as reports about organisational change in European policing, Multimedia tools against violence and an essay on identifying learning points in criminal investigations.

The 7th issues of the European Police Science and Research Bulletin, as well as previous ones, can be downloaded from the “Research & Science Publications” section of this website.

The 7th issue of the European Police Science and Research Bulletin is the last for the time being and concludes the current first series. The Bulletin will be back in early 2013 with in a revised new format.

Go to Source

WEBINAR: 20 September 2012 14:00 CET

Join the EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator and experts from EU agencies for a webinar and online discussion on the steps that are being taken to eradicate trafficking in human beings.

Hundreds of thousands of victims are trafficked across the EU every year. Trafficking in human beings – which can be classified as a modern form of slavery – is a serious crime, involving a violation of basic human rights.

Ms Myria Vassiliadou, EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator will present the ‘EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012 – 2016)’ adopted by the European Commission earlier this year, as part of a keynote address.

The webinar, hosted by CEPOL – the European Police College, is open to everyone. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions to the Anti-Trafficking Coordinator as part of a moderated discussion. Ms Vassiliadiou will be joined by:

• Ms Michèle Coninsx, President of Eurojust, on how the EU’s judicial cooperation unit is taking action against THB
• Mr Duco van Heel from Frontex on how integrated border management helps prevent trafficking in human beings
• Steve Harvey from Europol on Europol’s role in leading the fight against THB

The discussion will be moderated by Dr Ferenc Bánfi, Director of CEPOL.

Register for the webinar at: www.cepol.europa.eu/index.php

To find out more about trafficking in human beings, go to www.ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking

About CEPOL

The European Police College (CEPOL) is a European Union agency dedicated to supporting a European approach to the fight against crime. CEPOL’s core business is learning and training aimed at senior police officers, experts and trainers, with a focus on issues with a European – or cross-border – dimension, such as trafficking in human beings, counter-terrorism and cybercrime. CEPOL is located in Bramshill, in the UK.

Go to Source

Within the framework of the Cyprus Presidency of the Governing Board of CEPOL, a Presidency Conference on “Overcoming Attrition in Domestic Violence through Policing” took place in Limassol, Cyprus, on 10-12 July 2012. The Cyprus Police Academy undertook the organisation of this conference with the contribution of experts from Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, CEPOL and the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

The conference was organised as part of a broader project initiated by Cyprus Police with the overall aim of adopting a European Union handbook of Good Police Practices in overcoming attrition in domestic violence, through the Law Enforcement Working Party (LEWP), which has included the issue on its agenda.

The objectives of the conference were:

1. To disseminate, discuss and gain practical / professional as well as academic / research oriented knowledge on the subject of attrition in domestic violence.
2. To present, discuss and share best or police related practices in overcoming attrition in domestic violence.
3. To enrich CEPOL’s e-Net on domestic violence through sharing police training material, tools and methodologies related to the subject matter.
4. To supplement the CEPOL Common Curriculum on Domestic Violence.
5. To present, discuss and edit an EU Police Manual of Good Practices in overcoming attrition in domestic violence with the aim of submitting it for approval and dissemination to the Council of the European Union through the LEWP.

The Chair of the CEPOL Governing Board, Chief Superintendent Zacharias Chrysostomou, addressed the conference giving a brief introduction to the importance of fighting domestic violence. Mr Chrysostomou in his speech, mentioned, amongst others the following:
“For the Cyprus Police, domestic violence is a type of crime to which we attribute special emphasis. During the past few years a number of steps have been taken in order to prevent and combat this phenomenon that affects the lives of numerous people. We should not forget that a large proportion of victims of domestic violence are children who are the most vulnerable and whose traumatic experiences remain with them throughout their lives with devastating effects on their well being and consequently on the society. Domestic violence needs to be holistically addressed if we are to effectively prevent and combat it. The issue of attrition, for which we are here to discuss and try to find ways to overcome it, is of vital importance in the area of combating domestic violence.”

The Chief of Cyprus Police, Mr. Michail Papageorgiou in his welcoming speech mentioned:
“There is great interest and willingness to address the issue of attrition, finding practices or solutions that will decrease this phenomenon. Dealing with victims of crime is not an easy task, and when you will be discussing issues of attrition you should all have in mind the vulnerabilities and difficulties victims undergo when dealing with the criminal justice system.”

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order Dr Stelios Himonas, on behalf of the Minister of Justice and Public Order, whilst addressing the conference stressed that:
“The global phenomenon of domestic violence is disturbing and disgraceful enough. However, attrition in domestic violence cases is perhaps even more upsetting. The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, have set the tackling of the latter as one of our top priorities. Our goal is to produce an EU Police Manual of Good Practices in Overcoming Attrition in Domestic Violence, which will be a helpful tool in the minimisation of attrition in domestic and sexual violence cases. By domestic violence we primarily refer to violence committed between family members, but especially abuse between current or previous intimate partners. Attrition, as you are all very well aware, is the “weakening” that occurs to a case between the moment it is reported to the police and the final court outcome.”

During his speech at the opening ceremony of the conference Dr Detlef Shroeder, Deputy Director of CEPOL, welcomed the efforts made for preparing the Handbook and stressed the importance of fighting domestic violence. Furthermore, he confirmed that CEPOL supports the efforts being made in this direction.

Thirty-seven representatives from nineteen EU Member States attended the conference. Most of the participants are considered experts in the field of Domestic Violence as they deal with such issues on a daily basis.

The conference was beneficial to both the experts and the participants, since all were given the opportunity to discuss issues during the presentations, attend workshops and exchange ideas on best practices that can be adopted when dealing with cases containing attrition. Each participant’s expertise and competence contributed positively to the fulfillment of the above mentioned objectives and helped to identify possible common methods and practices that could be adopted by all Member States in response to this common challenge they face.

Mr Costas Veis, Head of the Cyprus Police Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Office, gave a review of the report, which was prepaid for Cyprus Police, on overcoming attrition in domestic violence cases and mentioned the aims of this study and research. He also analysed the need to put forward a project in line with the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU and its priority areas that would lead to a manual on Overcoming Attrition in Domestic Violence through Policing which could be used by all Law Enforcement Agencies in the EU.

Dr Marianne Hester from Bristol University, United Kingdom (UK), in her presentation regarding her research in domestic violence, stressed that women experienced police practice as positive and supportive, especially with minor violence offences. Furthermore, she concluded that there is a need for pro-active and multi-agency support with chronic male offenders and the criminal justice system needs to pursue the case where man is very dangerous.

Dr Amanda Robinson from Cardiff University, UK, analysed the subject of overcoming attrition in domestic violence as an objective requiring a victim-centred multi agency approach. Mrs Robinson also gave an overview of the UK approach to domestic violence and more specifically to the use and effectiveness of MARAC’s (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences).

Mr Jurgen Schmitt shared valuable information regarding the new method that was introduced by Rhineland-Palatinate Police, Germany, in order to develop a new police philosophy to handle cases of domestic violence. He also mentioned the objectives of this strategy which are the immediate cessation of violence, effective assistance to victims and the termination of injustices.

Mr John McCann referred to the strategies used in Ireland to overcome attrition and mentioned, amongst others, that the Police organisations are the key players to reduce attrition and to support the victims. He stressed that, firm actions must be taken against perpetrators and such cases must be fully investigated.

Mr Sami Nevala, representative of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), analysed a large study conducted by the Agency in relation to Domestic Violence and stated inter alia that the results of this study will be announced next year.

The experts from the UK, Mr Steve Mogg, Mrs Manjula Nayee, Mrs Ynonne Scott and Mrs Denise Blackburn analysed the UK Criminal Justice System’s Responses to Attrition.

The outcome of proceedings of the conference and specifically the conclusions of the workshops on the Handbook will be taken into consideration by Cyprus Police in revising the first draft of the Handbook. The draft of the Handbook, which was discussed during the conference, was added to CEPOL’s e-Net on July 11th and interested parties are invited to contribute additional comments until August 14th. The results of the Conference and the Handbook will be presented during the LEWP meeting on the 5th of September 2012, as well as to the 28th Governing Board meeting of CEPOL, which will take place in Cyprus on 13-14 November 2012.

The conference was concluded with the closing ceremony and the awarding of the appreciation letters to the experts and certificates to the participants.

Go to Source

Within the framework of CEPOL activity, the sub directorate for training and competency development of the Ministry of Interior in Lognes, France organised, with support from Denmark and Germany, a seminar on “Public Order, Security and Public Private Partnerships during Major Events” from the 9th to 13th July 2012.

The event brought together 22 senior police officers involved in the management of security during major events, coming from 14 different Member States of the European Union.

Different presentations on the topic of planification and operational management of security during major events were developed during the seminar. Through practical exercises, specific technical materials were presented. A visit to the Stade de France, an intervention by the head of security at EuroDisney and the French Football Federation all illustrated the topic of public private partnerships.

During the various contributions and workshops, participants had the opportunity to exchange experiences and good practise on the topics at hand. This seminar was enriched by the presence amongst the experts of Préfet Mr Hubert WEIGEL, who presented his vast knowledge and experience as the person responsible for the G20 Summit in Cannes, November 2011 and by Mr John SCKALETZ, responsible for the climate conference held in Copenhagen in December 2009 whose presentations had enlightening crossovers.

Finally, for the first time within the framework of CEPOL activities, the Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) with which France and 21 other Member States have been working for many years on the topic of security during major events, was associated to this seminar. UNICRI’s IPO model was presented and an enlarged cooperation offer through the “House of Major Events” was received.

Go to Source

An act of terrorism serves a twofold purpose: besides the obvious catastrophic consequences of such a random act of violence, there is a more subtle, more powerful effect at work: the psychological undermining of the population’s trust and confidence in the authorities that are sworn to safeguard them. It embeds into the collective mind of the citizens, a sense of fear and dread, a feeling of powerlessness and insecurity for the future and the days that lay ahead.

As the EU’s relevant authorities on preventing and combating terrorism, the heavy burden of assuring the populace and ensuring that they continue to enjoy the same privileges of freedom, liberty and justice as they have done for so many years, falls squarely upon our shoulders. Terrorism as a phenomenon cannot be fought through spasmodic and individual actions but only through determination, cooperation and unity.

The CEPOL Unit of the Hellenic Police Academy, with all of the above in mind, undertook the responsibility of organising a CEPOL Seminar on “Counter Terrorism Awareness”. The event took place in Athens, Greece on 03- 06 July 2012.

The activity’s target group was Senior, middle-ranked Police Officers or experts from EU Member States, Associated countries and EU Agencies specifically involved in Counter Terrorism activities within their organisations. The seminar was supported by experts from Italy, Spain and Europol as well as Greek experts from various services that deal with Counter – Terrorism.

The seminar’s main objectives, which according to the participants’ feedback were fully met, were:

• Given a learning situation and case studies, the participants will be able to understand and contrast examples of different national approaches and experiences connected to intelligence management and planning, related to real cases of Terrorist organisations.
• Given a learning situation and case studies, the participant will be able to identify, differentiate and contrast a number of backgrounds to terrorism (religion, radicalisation, political).
• Given a learning situation, the participants will on the one hand enhance their knowledge regarding left-wing terrorism, underline and exchange good practices and on the other hand identify and recommend methods for the successful fight against this type of terrorism.
• Given a learning situation and feedback from various European Agencies/Services, the participant will be able to indicate and categorise different instruments of European Cooperation in the field of Counter Terrorism.
• Given a learning environment and CEPOL’s e-Net, the participant will be able to establish an ongoing network with colleagues from EU Member- States.

During the Seminar’s opening and after an introductory CEPOL – EU and e-Net awareness presentation, the first day focused on Europe’s tools for cooperation and prevention of terrorism phenomena whilst a presentation on the CoPPra Project given by non other than the project’s manager himself, he too a seminar participant. The day continued with a look into the Italian Anarchist pro-Insurrection Movement and the Italian approach to preventive measures on counter terrorism and concluded with the threat posed by Al Qaeda in the Maghreb to Europe, provided by the Spanish expert.

Day two opened with a focus on domestic terrorist groups followed by the “CTU’s strategy for the successful confrontation of domestic terrorism”. The day’s program was enriched with a presentation by the Spanish participant, an expert himself on the “Use and misuse of the Internet by terrorism”. A presentation was delivered on “Religiously motivated terrorism”, supported by an extensive workshop, wherein the participants were given a hypothetical bomb threat scenario that required them to gather intelligence, assess the level of threat and find the proper channels for communication with CT Units in other Member States, in order to gather the necessary information.

The third day’s presentations started with a spotlight on an important domestic Greek terrorist group, their emergence and activity, their transformation from an anarchist group to a terrorist organisation with international range and the two years of sequential arrests of their members that led to the dismantling of their operations. The next presentation offered a view on the forensic applications of evidence found on terrorist attack sites with: “A secret hidden in tinny evidence”. The workings concluded with the workshop “Table Top exercise Achilles’ Heel”, which was a practical audio visual exercise based on a specific scenario and structured hypothetical real-time questions.

The last day’s workings commenced with a presentation – “Introduction to the basic IED circuit; pressure cookers cases – Ways of diffusion, based on field experiments”, which was enriched by the actual videos of the field trials. The final presentation of this activity was dedicated to “Dying to kill: a general view on suicide terrorism”. Following that, the outcomes of the seminar were reported while recommendations and conclusions were drafted. Closing the seminar, the Director of the Hellenic Police Academy, Police Brigadier General BALIS Dimitrios, delivered the certificates to the participants.

The use of CEPOL’s e-Net fully supported the activity throughout the duration of the seminar and was greatly appreciated by both lecturers and participants.

A participant from the Netherlands wrote the following in his evaluation:
The Awareness Seminar was very well organized. It was a very good combination of learning and networking. The program was well selected. The e-Net was new to me and in the future I will use this system for information and communication with my colleagues. The lessons we learned from the Greek colleagues were very interesting. I learned a lot about left wing terrorism and its organizations. In our country we have experience with extremism but not with left wing terrorism. In the table top exercise, we had the possibility to discuss with different countries and their approaches. All the learned lessons were used in the table top exercise. For my work in the Netherlands, I can use the knowledge in presentations for my colleagues and my work as a detective specialist. My compliments to the Greek colleagues for a very good week.

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The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has published a set of "public service principles" that should guide the conduct of EU civil servants. The principles take account of best practice in the Member States and were established through an initial consultation with the European Network of Ombudsmen. The Ombudsman also carried out a public consultation on a first draft of the principles. The responses to the consultation from citizens, civil servants, interest groups, EU institutions and other organisations were of great value in finalising the principles.

Mr Diamandouros commented: "The public service principles embody fundamental ethical standards. As such, they constitute a vital component of the administrative culture of service to which the EU institutions adhere. At a time when the European Union is facing a severe crisis, the principles can help to build greater trust between citizens and the EU institutions."

CEPOL, as one of the European Commission’s decentralised Agencies strives to work following advise and guidelines issued by the European Ombudsman. Public Service principles outlines work related principles that CEPOL firmly believes in and supports.

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Close to 100 senior homicide investigators representing nations from the entire European continent participated in the dedicated conference organised at Europol HQ in The Hague, Netherlands on 25 – 27 June 2012.

The high level expert conference was co-hosted by Europol and CEPOL and received the support of the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission [TAIEX] and the Association of Chief Police Officers [ACPO].

As the event was initiated by the Europol Homicide Working Group, its Chair Commander Simon Foy presided over the conference. Presenters included senior experts from NCIS Norway, Oslo Police HQ, Helsinki Police Department, London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Canterbury Christ Church University and last but not least Europol.

The participants actively discussed and contributed to extremely actual topics like the Utoya mass murder, school shootings and honour based killings; knowledge was updated on the exchange of forensic data and JIT cooperation.

To capitalise further on the benefit of bringing together such a large group of homicide investigators, all participants were invited to the online expert communities of CEPOL and Europol. In doing so the exchange of knowledge and expertise surpasses the benefit of this unique event.

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France’s Gendarmerie Nationale General Headquarters, in Issy-Les-Moulineaux near Paris, hosted CEPOL course “Forensic Science and Policing: Forensic interpretation and Intelligence” on 18-22 June 2012. The activity was implemented by the Forensic and Criminal Intelligence Agency and Forensic Sciences Research Institute of the Gendarmerie Nationale. The course was supported by Belgium, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Europol.

Twenty-five participants, all investigators and/or forensic practitioners, from 19 Member States attended the event. Managed by Colonel Frank Crispino, the course was opened with presentations by General Hebrard and Colonel Daoust, from the Gendarmerie Nationale. During the following days expert lecturers took the floor: Br. Gen. Schuliar, LCL Servettaz, LCL Depriester, Cne Brunel-Dupin and discussed investigations on crime scenes especially the coordination of interveeners, the traces on the crime scenes and the beginning of interpretation.

External experts Prof. Esseiva and Prof. Champod from Switzerland respectively presented “Chemical Profiling and Backtrack Investigations – Preparation of Criminal Charges. A Swiss and European Perspective” and “One Logical and Illustrative Approach for Different Traces: Bayesian Networks”. M. Van Renterghem, Europol, gave a lecture entitled “Exploiting DNA Data to Combat International Crime – Understanding the flow of Forensic Information in the EU” whilst the National Police improvement Agency (NPIA) representative from the UK, M. Wilson, presented “The value of footwear intelligence for police investigations”. Both presentations were highly appreciated and well received by all of the course participants. Last but not least, subsequent to the lecture “the Forensic Advisor” led by Ms Barret (INCC), participants were kept busy with case studies organized by Ms Barret and implemented by the whole training team.

At the end of the course, it emerged that due to technological evolution, forensic science is becoming more and more efficient and meaningful in the lead of judicial investigations. For ages, the trace was only considered as proof of the existence of an item or judicial fact: a piece of evidence. Today, we have to consider that a trace is not as limited anymore. Indeed, trace interpretation which will be done, would certainly help to solve judicial cases; but an extensive interpretation, taking into account its limits, will prove really useful at strategic level in determining the political future of security forces.

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Latvia hosted CEPOL course 45/2012 ‘Crime Prevention through Environmental Design’ on 11-15 June 2012. The activity was held on the premises of the State Police of Latvia in Riga. Twenty participants and nine trainers form 15 EU Member States plus Turkey and the Republic of Macedonia attended the course.

Throughout the week high level lecturers took the floor. Lecturers were invited from different Member States taking into account their professional experience and making sure that the topic was covered from as many perspectives as possible, not only the police side, but also the public’s and architects’. The course proved that implementation of CPTED in Central and Eastern Europe will be topical for a long time. Participants from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic acknowledged that these ideas are only in the process of being developed in their countries and still a lot of things, including additional training sessions for professionals, need to take place to truly implement this concept. This situation is not comparable with, for example, the Netherlands, Denmark or Ireland where these ideas have been a part of the planning process for approximately 20 years. Participants also acknowledged that they very much enjoyed the multidisciplinary approach to the topic as well as site visits and practical tasks in the working groups. The Latvian organisers were pleased to host Macedonian and Turkish participants who were themselves very much inspired to hear about the CPTED concept and informed the course about their intentions to bring these ideas back home and even organise special events to promote them.

The course also raised a lot of interest from the mass media and interest in changing the environment for a safer and better life in cooperation with police services.

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This year, the Police School in Katowice, has once again had the opportunity of organizing an international course under the auspices of CEPOL entitled: Human Rights and Police Ethics – Step 1. The course was held on 15-18 of May in Krakow, Poland. The overall aim of the course was to raise awareness about the importance of ethical behaviour in day to day police work and to enhance diversity integration matters within Police management.

The course was attended by 24 participants from 18 Member States all senior police officers and trainers involved in the practice, training and promotion of integrity, ethics and human rights in policing as well as the management of diversity. The programme included lectures and activities devoted to topics such as hate crimes, rights of crime victims, methods of teaching about human rights in police forces across different countries, complaints against the police to mention but a few. A highlight of the four day course was the participants’ visit to the Police School in Katowice during which they familiarized themselves with the training system with which Polish police officers are trained.

As the course is designed as a two-stage activity, step two of this activity is scheduled on 10-14 September 2012 at the Police Training Centre in Vienna, Austria. The same group of participants will have the opportunity to meet once again and create a stronger bond as well as a supportive atmosphere in which to continue the process of learning and sharing views on human rights and police ethics in the European Union.

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“Crisis Management and Emergency Planning: School Shootings and AMOK Incidents” is the title of a CEPOL course held at the Police College of Finland in Tampere on 4-8 June 2012. Twenty-nine participants from 21 different Member States as well as Norway took part in the event. The course’s expert trainers came from Finland, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Peter Sund, course manager, opened the activity by summarising the aims and objectives of the course. Mr Sund explained that the event’s core theme was to promote approaches that focus on prevention of serious and planned violence through police activities. The topics of the course concentrated on school shootings, serious acts of violence in public places, the cultures of hate and violence on the internet and police actions regarding these phenomena.

Following Mr Sund’s introduction, course manager Dr Mari Koskelainen went on by exploring the core concepts of the course in a presentation entitled “Evidence Based Knowledge on Violence Risk Indicators”. Dr Koskelainen spoke about the need to use empirical research findings in guiding the way risk and threat assessments are conducted.

Detective Chief Inspector Gordy Harper from Northern Ireland ended the first day with a presentation entitled “The Threat Posed by Terrorist and Non-Terrorist Active Shooters – Preparing the Police Response to Severe Targeted Violence, Mass-Murders and Other Attacks in Public Places within a Multi-Agency Context”. Mr Harper spoke about the need to establish an operating model that systematically considers the information and intelligence available as the basis for operational decision making. Mr Harper introduced the model his organisation uses and demonstrated via case examples how this model can be utilised.

Day two of the course saw four presentations from Finnish expert speakers. The day started with a presentation by Dr Atte Oksanen. The title of his presentation was “School Shootings and the Culture of Hate and Violence on the Internet”. Dr Oksanen spoke about the developmental path and factors behind severe targeted violence, including conditions for school shootings. He also explored the culture of hate on the internet and the forms of expression this takes.

Detective Inspector Jussi Hyysalo held a presentation on “Internet Intelligence in Prevention of Severe Violent Attacks. Mr Hyysalo described the internet intelligence approach the Finnish police use in prevention of severe violent attacks and how the police gather leads to planned violence.

In the afternoon Mr Sund spoke about a systemic view to prevention of severe targeted violence in his presentation entitled “Prevention of Severe Targeted Violence in Educational Institutions”. Mr Sund explored how such prevention systems and structures are created in organisations and how different organisations can function together.

The fourth speaker of the day, Police Sergeant Markus Heiskanen, presented material from the communicated threats the police have been investigating in Finland. The presentation entitled “Applications of Police Based Threat Assessment and Threat Screening of Communicated Threats” noted some common themes the police have been discovering whilst looking at these threats.

On day three of the course Dr Jens Hoffmann from Germany held a full day workshop. This workshop covered various aspects of threat assessment in relation to different forms of severe targeted violence. Dr Hoffmann’s workshop title of “System Safe School Workshops” was extended to cover key research findings in the field of threat assessment in addition to school shootings. Dr Hoffmann’s presentation explored the “Pathway to Violence”-model as well as the “Typology of Warning Behaviours” as a way of conducting threat assessments based on research findings and evidence.

On the last day of the activity a plenary session was held during which the participants had the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback about the course. Mr Sund, who facilitated the plenary session, also went through the goals the participants had set themselves for the course. Whether these goals had been achieved was discussed. Although many remaining questions and dilemmas were raised, there seemed to be a common understanding that the goals of the course had been achieved.

Despite having worked hard during the course’s four information packed days, the participants were still keen to take the opportunities to share thoughts and experiences during their “off-time” as well. Evenings also provided an opportunity to relax and socialise in a less formal manner. Formal and informal networking naturally took place during the event. It appeared that the participants left the course having formed new contacts with colleagues from many different European countries and that they were planning to keep these alive beyond the course’s environment.

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Witness protection faces new challenges in the age of internet, in a world of free movement, flowing data and into which biometrics are being introduced all of which considerably complicates the possibility of hiding and protecting endangered persons.

Enhancing of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in a witness protection, where lives of protected persons depends on measures taken by all involved services, requires knowledge of partner´s abilities, skills and applied measures.

However, often only personal meetings and courses are the available methods for sharing know-how in this sensitive field. Therefore CEPOL courses contribute to fill this information vacuum.

Twenty-six participants from 20 EU Member States plus Switzerland attended this course on witness protection organised at the Presidium of the Police Force, on 14-18 May in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Slovak experts delivered the majority of presentations and shared their experience with practical exercises on measures such a videoconferencing and issuing of cover documents. Speakers from Poland and Italy, including anti-mafia prosecutor Dr Roberto Pennisi, presented their special experience and illustrated rules on one of the course’s key points: “Collaborators of Justice and Witness Protection”. The aim was to introduce witness protection as one part of measures taken by criminal justice agencies in the fight against serious crime. Presentations included transformation of common law principles into civil law systems and relationship with the witness protection.

The main objective of this course was to extend the understanding of witness protection, not only at national level but also in the international context and to cope with related new challenges.

“Legal and Practical Aspects of Identity Changes in Witness Protection”, a Slovak comparative study, pointed out some of the differences that exist in this protective measure and which sometimes can create serious problems for partner´s services during international cooperation on concrete cases. Discussions following the presentation highlighted that harmonisation in this field needs to be improved.

“Whistle-blowers at High Risk”, a collection of international case studies, showed that the importance and role these figures play in a sound and healthy society, is not recognised enough yet. Although they often provide information or testimonies in serious cases, the need to also protect such persons in witness protection programs has not been sufficiently discussed and examined during such events so far.

“Biometrics and witness protection”, a presentation given by the Slovak WPU, drew attention to the issue of biometrics which was first presented in 2006 during the Salzburg forum meeting and later elaborated at the Europol and Interpol 2007 symposium. This CEPOL course discussed updated results from specific research and the current trends which pose serious threats to the ability to hide protected witnesses.

Last but not least, during the course participants were informed about a draft multilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of witness protection which is being elaborated by the Salzburg forum countries. This important work aspires to become the basis for an EU agreement on witness protection.

Some comments from course participants:

• The topics of the course were very interesting for me. The course contributed to developing my skills and abilities. The information which I gained will help me definitely in my job.
• I think the trainers and experts were amazing. It was a pleasure for me to gather information on the topics, especially the Slovak, Italian and Polish methods of witness protection.
• The course content was excellent and the lecturers delivered the content in an easy to understand way and hit the key issues of our business. The course manager was particularly interesting and the manner and enthusiasm of his work was commendable.

The course was organised by the Slovak CEPOL team with support from Italy and Poland.

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The 27th Governing Board meeting took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from 22-23 May 2012. Mr Jørgen Harlev, Chair of the Governing Board, opened the meeting.

The main topics discussed at the meeting included:

• Annual Report 2011
• Annual Activity Report 2011
• Annual Accounts 2011
• Internal Audit Panel 2011 Report
• The nomination of a member of the Internal Audit Panel
• Report on grant agreement procedure
• Budget Implementation 2012
• Budget and Work Programme 2013
• Preliminary discussion of the Budget and Work Programme 2014
• Multi-annual Staff Policy Plan 2013-1215
• Financial Framework 2014-2020
• Rationalisation of CEPOL
  • Progress Reports from WG chairpersons
  • A new decision on the creation and functioning of WGs
• The CEPOL sub-strategies
  • Information Management Strategy
  • Information Systems and Technology Strategy
• European Training Scheme
• A New Legal Basis for CEPOL
• Cypriot Presidency Priorities

The Governing Board adopted a number of decisions, including:

• Adoption of Decision 12/2012/GB – the Multi-annual Staff Policy Plan 2013-2015
• Adoption of Decision 13/2012/GB on the creation and functioning of CEPOL Working Groups (repealing Decisions 10/2007/GB and 11/2007/GB)
• Adoption of Decision 14/2012/GB – the Annual Activity Report for 2011 (written procedure)

The Chair of the Governing Board presented:

• The Draft Outcome of Proceedings of the 26th Governing Board Meeting for adoption

The Director presented:

• Agency Progress Report until April 2012
• Annual Report 2011
• Annual Activity Report 2011. Decision 14/2012/GB – Establishing the Analysis and Assessment of the Authorising Officer’s 2011 Annual Activity Report – was afterwards sent for adoption by written procedure, terminating on 14 June 2012.
• Annual Accounts 2011
• A Draft Decision on the creation and functioning of CEPOL Working Groups. After discussion, the Governing Board adopted Decision 13/2012/GB with 26 votes for, 0 against, and one member abstaining from voting.

The Deputy Director presented:

• Report on grant agreement procedure. The Governing Board took note of the report.
• Together with the European Commission, the Deputy Director presented the European Training Scheme (ETS).

The Head of Corporate Services Department presented:

• Budget Implementation 2012
• Budget and Work Programme 2013
• Budget and Work Programme 2014
• Multi-Annual Staff Policy Plan 2013-2015

The Internal Audit Panel presented:

• The 2011 IAP report
• Nomination of a member of the IAP. The Governing Board decided upon a renewal of Mr Massimo Tulini’s mandate for the IAP.

The European Commission presented:

• The New Legal Basis for CEPOL

The 28th Governing Board meeting is scheduled for 13-14 November 2012 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

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In June 2010 French law enforcement seized 1.4 tons of cocaine in the Caribbean. These drugs were destined for the European market and the operation prevented them from reaching their destination where they would have caused immeasurable harm to communities across Europe.

Following the seizure, over 30 members of the highly organised drug trafficking network involved in the intended importation were arrested worldwide. The head of the organisation is currently on trial in Sweden facing charges of cocaine trafficking. He is also charged with money laundering offences in Spain. Assets that belonged to the crime group valued at 10 million euros were seized across Europe. These assets included exclusive properties, luxury cars, yachts and a nightclub.

The fantastic results of this case were made possible through cooperation and intelligence sharing between Sweden, Spain and France working together for three years as part of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

CEPOL used this excellent example of a JIT to take a new approach when hosting a Joint Investigation Team seminar at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Police in Lyon, France from 04 to 08 June 2012.

Fifteen judges and prosecutors along with 30 senior law enforcement officers from 18 different European Member states came together for a week to explore both the legal and operational aspects of successfully setting up and running a JIT. Representatives from Interpol, Europol and Eurojust contributed to the seminar which was brought to life through the leading practitioners in this large-scale operation giving presentations of various aspects of the JIT.

The Spanish and French Investigating Judges who led their national JIT teams, the Eurojust national members of Spain, Sweden and France who supported the smooth running of the JIT and Europol experts all actively contributed to the programme. As well as presenting their experiences and giving panel question and answer sessions to share their knowledge and tips, they moderated group workshops. All aspects relating to JITs were covered; when a JIT is appropriate, how to obtain support, how to draft a JIT agreement, applying for funding, running the JIT and overcoming problems including handling evidence in court.

This new, interactive JIT seminar focusing on a real life case puts once again the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Police, a member of the CEPOL network, at the forefront of innovative learning in Europe.

“This is the most ambitious and interesting JIT training I have taken part in!” (Ola Laurell, senior prosecutor, Eurojust national member for Sweden).

“The 2012 CEPOL/EJTN JIT seminar was comprehensive, interactive and extremely well organized. It was centred around an inspiring example of a real, ongoing case presented by the practitioners involved which brought the training to life” (Laura Clark, senior operations officer SOCA , UK)

“In this seminar, we have shared our experiences and a knowledge. We have learnt altogether. That is cooperation!” (Judge José Villodre Lopez, JIT leader for Spain)

“the JIT seminar has come to its maturity. This CEPOL/EJTN course is an exemplification of how a field experience can be successfully transformed into a comprehensive and valuable learning programme. (Commandant Jean Marie Fiquet, Head International Relations and CEPOL course manager at ENSP)

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From 21-24 May 2012 high-level police officials convened at the German Police University on a CEPOL course to discuss recent developments in European Criminal Law with regard to the Stockholm Program. The aim of the course, hosted in Münster-Hiltrup by Prof. Dr. Peter Rackow and supported by Austria and Poland, was to gain valuable insights into European Crime Politics from various perspectives of the practice and the academic sphere focusing on several assorted, characteristic and interrelated issues referring to the “area of freedom, justice and security” during the period 2010-14 which is set out in the Stockholm Programme of the European Union.

Beside the lecturers from Austria, Poland, Europol and Germany, 24 representatives from 17 EU Member States attended the course.

Day one started with an opening by Mr. Thielmann, vice-president of the German Police University, followed by an introduction into the seminar’s program by the head of the department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Crime Politics, Professor Dr. Peter Rackow. A presentation by Dr. Jan Ellermann, Data Protection Officer at Europol, focused on first-hand experience and expertise, providing a sound insight to the challenges regarding the realization of European prerequisites in his field. The course continued with a speech by Prof. Dr. Mark Zöller, Director of the Institute for German and European Criminal Procedure law and Police law at the University of Trier, entitled “The Exchange of Law Enforcement Data between the Member States for the Improvement of Cooperation within the European Union”. Given that data protection and data exchange are based on the principle of availability, both speeches led to abundant sharing of information between the participants and the speakers.

“Mutual recognition of financial penalties” was the title of the presentation given by Dr Tomasz Milkowski, Teacher at the Police School in Katowice, Poland, that turned the attention from “availability” to “mutual recognition” and wrapped up the day’s activities.

On the course’s second day, Prof Dr Fritz Zeder, Federal Ministry of Justice from Vienna, provided his special experience on policy-cycle-dynamics related to the implementation of roadmaps such as the Stockholm Programme with “Implications of the creation of a European Prosecutor’s Office”. Prof. Zeder addressed the many detailed questions which have to be solved should the EU decide to establish a European Prosecutor’s Office. There after Detective Chief Superintendent Lars Wagner of the German Police University delivered a valuable impression of how challenging the realisation of judicial decisions in practice can be. Based on his experiences as head of the anti-terrorism section of the EULEX mission, his presentation focused on the EULEX Kosovo mission, which aims at giving help and counsel on the construction of police, judiciary and administration in Kosovo.

In order to actively include the course participants, groups were setup and led by Detective Chief Superintendent Wagner and asked to answer goal-directed questions on the Stockholm Programme. Subsequent to discussing the questions within their groups, the participants compiled answers including personal experience and presented them. This proved to be a good opportunity to discuss the matter in depth.

The focus of day three remained on “mutual recognition” with Dr Liane Wörner from the University of Giessen, presenting “Current state of affairs regarding the European Arrest Warrant”. The lecture by Prof Peter Rackow entitled “Initiatives to Enhance Mutual Cooperation in the field of Evidence Gathering and Admissibility” was followed by a second working-group session, which discussed aspects of the principles of availability and mutual recognition and the necessity of a European Prosecutor’s Office. Discussions led to integrated insights, assessments and opinions on the different thematic areas of the state of matters regarding European Criminal Law.

Questions regarding the protection of sensitive data whilst at the same time enabling effective exchange of information between countries, as well as problems related to diverse handling of EU prerequisites were in the fore. Generally, it was broadly agreed that mutual trust is one of the crucial features needed in order to achieve successful trans-national cooperation.

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Italy hosted CEPOL course “06-2012 Money Laundering” on 17-20 April 2012. The activity was held in Rome’s inter-agency college for advanced studies, the “Scuola di Perfezionamento per le Forze di Polizia”. At the helm of this training activity was the Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s police corps specialised in financial and economic matters. Absolutely essential to the success of the course were the contributions received from Europol and the support of Belgium.

Money laundering is one of the most relevant threats to world economies and, in a broader sense, to the fundamentals of democratic states. It is the final phase of a wide range of crimes and has relevant trans-national involvement. It should not come as a surprise that the fight against money laundering is a priority set both by the Stockholm Programme and Europol’s OCTA reports.

Twenty-nine participants from 19 Member States attended the course. The event, coordinated by Col. Giancarlo Trotta, was opened with presentations by Gen. Michele Carbone and Maj. Maurizio Querqui, from the Guardia di Finanza Headquarters. They respectively presented “Activity of the Guardia di Finanza in the fight against Money Laundering” and “Money Laundering Techniques”.

During the following days high level lecturers took the floor. Prof. Michele Riccardi, University of Milan’s Cattolica University and Transcrime (Joint Research Centre on Transnational Crime) discussed “The identification of beneficial owners in the fight against money laundering” whilst Dr. Giuseppe Maresca, Head of Unit within the Italian Treasury Department, lectured about “The role of the Financial Action Task Force”.

External experts Maj. Igor Angelini, Head of Unit at Europol, and Comm. Veerle De Wolf from the Belgian Police presented “Financial Intelligence and Money Laundering” and “Belgian Department for the Fight against Financial and Economic Crime”. Both presentations were highly appreciated by all of the courses participants.

Participants were kept busy in the afternoons with case studies and entailing discussions led by Cpt. Francesco Paolo Davide, Cpt. Luca Meoli and Cpt. Francesco De Lellis. The courses final activity was a study visit to the Nucleo Speciale Polizia Valutaria of the Guardia di Finanza Corps.

At the end of this fully booked course, Rossanna Farina, Course Manager and Head of the Italian CEPOL Unit, stated that “The expectations of those who took part in the course were fully met and Italy is committed to taking care of updating CEPOL’s Money Laundering Common Curriculum and will be applying to organise this course in 2013 too”.

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The International Training Centre for Combating Clandestine Laboratories (ITCCCL) in Legionowo, Poland hosted a joint CEPOL / Europol course on 16-27 April entitled “dismantling illicit synthetic drugs laboratories”. The course attracted 31 participants from a total of 21 Member States and two Third Party Countries.

The aim of the course was to provide participants, law enforcement as well as forensic officers, with all the information required to successfully, and safely, dismantle illicit synthetic drugs laboratory sites in the course of their work.

Two experts from the Europol O6 Organised Crime Networks Unit with a further five experts from The Netherlands and Poland presented their knowledge on the production of synthetic drugs and the methodology and risks which can be encountered by law enforcement and forensic officers when involved in dismantling illicit synthetic drug laboratories. In addition, the Europol AWF Synergy team presented details on their operational capabilities, including expert systems and criminal analytical tools.

All participants carried out a series of practical exercises at the ITCCCL, involving simulated illicit synthetic drugs laboratories.

A glance at the course evaluation by participants was very positive with 95% strongly agreeing with all the questions regarding participant satisfaction.

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The 5^th meeting of the Common Curricula Working Group (CCWG) was hosted on 24-26 April 2012 at the Further Education and Training Centre of Northern Greece in Veria. The Director of the Training Centre Dr Georgios Hatzivasiliadis coordinated his team in the best possible way to create perfect conditions for the three day meeting. The CCWG finalised its questionnaire on "Integration of Common Curricula in National Training Programmes", as well as its part of work on a "Manual on Integration of Common Curricula in National Training Programmes". As it was the last meeting of the CCWG its members also prepared a Progress Report to be presented to the next CEPOL Governing Board.

As the work of the CCWG has now been finalised, CEPOL would like to thank the group’s chair Mario Marmo (Italy), and members Rima Narkevičienė (Lithuania), Harrier Jakobsson Öhrn (Sweden), Irina Slabu (Romania), and Dr Georgios Hatzivasiliadis (Greece) for their work since 2010 and their enthusiastic support for the products delivered by the group itself (a Marketing strategy, a definition of Implementation and Quality standards).

CEPOL strongly relies on cooperation with the Member States and this event has underlined the strong ties between the Hellenic Police Academy and CEPOL.

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Crime Control and Traffic Safety was the subject of a seminar held in Münster, Germany on 16–19 April 2012. The aim of the seminar was to improve the participants’ knowledge of Crime Control and Traffic Safety issues and European Best Practice examples, with a specific focus on Cross Border Enforcement, Organized Motorcycle Gangs (OMCG), EU Project DRUID, Commercial Transport and Prevention Campaigns. Nineteen participants from 15 EU countries as well as lecturers from Hungary, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium took part in the seminar.

The first day of the seminar saw the welcoming of the participants by the president of the German Police University Mr. Klaus Neidhardt and an introduction into the seminar’s program by Chief Superintendent Martin Mönnighoff and Chief Superintendent Dr. Thomas Bastian. Following presentations by the participants illustrating good practice in the field of Road Safety and Crime Control in their respective countries, Prof. Dr. Horst Schulze, Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), gave an insight into the results of the EU Project DRUID (Driving under the Influence of Drugs and Alcohol). The last of the day’s activities saw Dr Lázló Elek, Hungarian Police, describe Cross Border Cooperation between Hungary and Romania which is an integral part of Europe’s Cross Border Fight against Crime.

Day two put an emphasis on the implications of safety of employees and commercial transport. The PRAISE Project (Preventing Road Accidents and Injuries for the Safety of Employees) was presented by Mrs Ellen Townsend, ETSC (European Transport Safety Council). Road Policing relating to commercial transport in Europe was presented by Mr. Wulf Hoffmann, former Police Chief Superintendent of Saxonia-Anhalt. The highlight of the afternoon’s programme was a field Study Visit to a multi-agency Cross Border Traffic Check on the Dutch German Border. This successful cooperation sees police forces from the Netherlands (Koninklijke Marechaussee, Border Guard and Specialized Forces of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for analysis of dangerous goods and waste transports) and from Germany (Police of Lower-Saxony, Federal Police, Customs and BAG) working together. This event was captured by German television and can be viewed on the following website: Emsvechte-TV. Participants had the possibility to observe and discuss the equipment and expertise used by their Dutch and German colleagues.

On day three of the seminar participants were given presentations about a data recovery device – Crash Cube, presented by Rotterdam Police officers Hans Bot and Mo Mouch on behalf of TISPOL, as well as research results from the implications of Fatigue on driving performance presented by Dr David Hallvig of the Swedish VTI. The afternoon session comprised of lectures by Dr Lia Cuñado, University of Valencia, which gave an insight into children’s perception of Road Safety and their behavior as cyclists and a presentation of counterstrategies for illegal activities of OMCG by Mr. Martin Kuntze of the Ministry of the Interior of Rhineland Palatinate.

The seminar closed on day four with a presentation delivered by Mr. Christian Egeler, Swiss Rapp Trans AG, giving an insight into Speed Regulation device Section Control. Martin Mönnighoff, Head of the Traffic Management Department at the German Police University in Münster, encouraged participants to make use of their CEPOL connections as an interdisciplinary platform for networking and the exchange of Good Practice examples. He stressed the importance and function of police networking and the development of common policing standards, in the process of fighting Crime and reducing Traffic Casualties throughout Europe.

The seminar was organised by the German Police University’s Traffic Management Department in conjunction with the Hungarian Police.

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“I have always regarded training as an indispensable strategic tool for encouraging the cultural awareness necessary for handling change”. These were the prefatory remarks of the address given by Italian Interior Minister Annamaria Cancellieri at the opening ceremony of the Academic Year 2011-12 at the Scuola di perfezionamento per le Forze di Polizia (SFP), the Italian Interagency Law-Enforcement College of Advanced Studies.

The Minister’s address followed the opening remarks given by the Director of the SFP, Carabinieri General Vincenzo Giuliani. Also present at the ceremony were Mr Carlo De Stefano, under-secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Giuseppe Procaccini, chief of staff to the Interior Minister and Mr Antonio Manganelli, Italy’s Chief of Police. Guest speakers included prof. Giorgio Spangher, professor at the ‘La Sapienza’ University in Rome as well as a non-judge member of the Consiglio superiore della magistratura, Italy’s judiciary self-governance body.

“The expertise of each law-enforcement officer”, the minister told the SFP’s Advanced Training Course attendees, “represents a huge investment for the whole country, which entrusts you with carrying out a project aimed at ensuring security, legality and welfare for the entire community”. According to Ms Cancellieri, sharing experience and expertise at an operational level and, better still, during training, is necessary to respond to “the new challenges posed by modernisation, innovation and unfamiliar situations arising worldwide”. There is also a need for “greater unity among police forces as a whole”, said the minister, “in order to better serve the country, as it goes through a delicate phase when security and social cohesion emerge as major issues against a backdrop of social uncertainty”.

The minister also stressed “the growing transnational dimension of crime, mafia groups and illegal immigration rings”. The threat posed by organised criminals knows no border. Hence it requires, she said, “an international response based on a cohesive approach” both domestically and among police forces from different countries.

“Italy’s security apparatus is a paradigm of excellence in the international arena”, said Ms Cancellieri, “as witnessed by the fact that the expertise of our officers is made available to other countries by sharing our training schemes and through direct training provision on specific issues, for which unanimous acknowledgement and recognition is received”. “The quality of our response, in terms of effective security policies”, she continued, “is bound to significantly affect the public perception of safety. It will also be a measure of our Government’s ability to accomplish its mission, at different institutional levels. This is why”, she added, “we must all strive to put in place a security apparatus that helps generate cohesion. Without solidarity and social cohesion, no liberty is safe”. Therefore, she concluded, “the value of safety and security, to which each and every member of the public is entitled, must be acknowledged and preserved”, so as to lay the ground for the citizens to “effectively exercise” their rights.

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On 9-13 April 2012 the MoI International Training Centre in Budapest, Hungary, hosted CEPOL course 01/2012 “Trafficking in Human Beings”. The course, organised by the Hungarian CEPOL Unit, attracted a near capacity audience of twenty six participants from eighteen different Member States.

The aim of the course was to increase participants’ knowledge of different European police systems and instruments of cooperation as well as enhance their knowledge of instruments and techniques in the fight against THB. Improving participants’ capacity to handle victims and improving their ability to appraise THB investigative methods and techniques were tasks also included in the course’s objectives.

Particular attention was given to the following aspects:

• The European legal background of trafficking in human beings
• The international and European law enforcement Agencies and NGOs involved in the fight against this type of crime
• Best practice in THB investigations focusing on intelligence and evidence gathering
• Handling of victims during the criminal process,
• Different methods of international cooperation, analysing the current situation of THB in Europe, based on OCTA
• Europol, Eurojust and Interpol

Much of the course’s success derived from the valued support from The Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Europol.

At the end of the four day course, a satisfied participant said: “All the information provided helped me to understand the situation across the whole of Europe, not only in actions against THB but also knowledge useful in every investigation against organised crime.” Another participant added: "The experience and expertise shared by the trainers and experts was high ranked from my point of view. The administrative group was always at hand and responded very quickly and efficiently to our requests.”

Thanks to the Learning Management System (LMS) within CEPOL’s e-Net, all of the the presentations given over the four days can be read and discussed. One participant wrote: "International Police Cooperation nowadays means networking or to be more precise, it means e-networking in a safe, secure and fruitful (efficient) manner. We shared knowledge and opinions and enjoyed it so much that we also shared our spare time to exchange opinions.”

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CEPOL course “02/2012 – Fighting Against Drugs", took place in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 27-30 March 2012. The Cyprus Police Academy undertook the organisation of this course with the support of Belgium, Poland and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction (EMCDDA) one of CEPOL’s sister agencies. Contributions were also made by experts from Cyprus, the United Kingdom and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from the United States of America.

The Director of the Cyprus Police Academy, Chief Superintendent Zacharias Chrysostomou, addressed the course giving a brief introduction on how the Cyprus Police are trying to implement measures against drug trafficking and stressed the importance of dealing with drug-related crimes. Mr Chrysostomou in his speech, mentioned that: “Cyprus, as a Member State of the European Union, has been watching the expansion and increase of this problem in Europe and is alarmed by the worrying indications of developments in the synthetic drugs market and more generally, in the way drug consumers now use a wider set of substances. Cyprus, like other European Member States has used for some years now, the philosophy of a balanced and integrated approach to dealing with the problem”.

Twenty six representatives from seventeen EU Member States and one representative from Switzerland attended the course. The majority of participants are considered experts in the field of combating Drug trafficking as they deal with these issues on a daily basis. It must be pointed out that the course focused on international aspects of tackling the problem. Therefore, the course was also attended by an expert from the United States. The course was organised in an effort to enable the participants to exchange experiences, to discuss but also identify possible common standards that could be adopted by all Member States.

The objectives of the course were:

• To develop a global analysis linked to drug trafficking with regards to the source and production countries, to include drug trafficking routes, modus operandi, new trends & techniques with special emphasis on the implementation of modern technology.
• To develop an approach to combating drug trafficking organisations, while strengthening the cooperation between EU agencies.
• With the use of existing resources to implement the actions included in the EU Action Plan & Strategy in relation to Supply Reduction.

The course was beneficial to both the experts and the participants, as they had the opportunity to discuss issues during the presentations and to attend workshops and exchange ideas regarding the best practices that can be adopted in combating drug-related crimes. Each participant’s expertise and competence contributed positively to the fulfillment of the above mentioned objectives.

Laurent Laniel from the EMCDDA said that, heroin is Europe’s biggest problem and currently there are 700,000 users undergoing substitution treatments. Opiates are responsible for 10-20,000 deaths annually in the EU, including 7,600 overdose deaths, while the number of cocaine related deaths reported in 2009 were around 900. Moreover, a record number of 49 new substances were reported to the EMCDDA through the early warning system in 2011. Mr Laniel also gave an overview of the state of play and the work being done in relation with the preparation of the Drug Supply reduction indicators in the EU.

Dr Waldemar Krawczyk from Poland shared valuable information regarding the new methods of production and smuggling of precursors. He also gave a brief analysis of the European Pact against synthetic drugs, a Polish initiative, which was adopted by the EU on 27 October 2011, during the Polish Presidency. He also presented the EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats) project relating to synthetic drugs.

Jaakko Sonck, a participant from Finland, said: “Everything was very well organised…, glad I participated…, my expectations were met…, thank you for everything”.

The Chief of Cyprus Police, Mr. Michael Papageorgiou in his closing speech said: “Drug trafficking remains a major activity for organised crime groups but at the same time it is difficult to establish how widely terrorist groups are also involved in the illicit drug trade as well as the nature of cooperation between these two criminal groups. The magnitude of the numbers involved makes the relationship worrisome. The enormous profits from the drug trade are such that they enable drug cartels to control or influence various centres of authority and power, thus escaping any measures and campaigns against the production and trafficking of these narcotic substances. I can assure you that Cyprus Police will do its utmost in the fight against drugs, placing great emphasis on supply reduction, international cooperation and prevention”.

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The CEPOL Italian National Unit took part in a joint CEPOL/Europol initiative aimed at raising awareness of EU law enforcement agencies within Member States by organising several seminars on Europol and CEPOL in the host’s national language.

On 6 and 7 March 2012, the Scuola di Perfezionamento per le Forze di Polizia in Rome, Italy hosted such a seminar entitled “Europol – added value in combating organised crime and terrorism”. The event’s target group consisted of Italian senior police officers involved in countering organised crime and terrorism as well as active in the field of international and European police cooperation.

The Seminar was opened by the Director of the Scuola, who introduced Europol and CEPOL representatives and presented the following program:

• Europol’s objectives and role
• The role played by the Europol Nation Unit (ENU)
• CEPOL’s mission and objectives
• Analysis of Eastern European Organised Crime (AWF EEOC)
• Presentation of the Trafficking in Human Beings project (AWF Phoenix)
• Payment card frauds and forgery of money
• Analysis of pornography-related phenomena on the Internet (AWF Twins).

Presenters included experts such as Roberto Angrisani, Head of the Italian Europol National Unit, and Igor Angelini, Head of the Europol Terrorist Financing Unit, who gave an overview on strategic subjects, intelligence led policing (ECIM)/Analysis, the Europol Analysis Work File (AWF) concept and the significance of information exchange. Attention also focused on how to use the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA) system to manage operational and strategic communications on criminal matters between the ENUs, Member States liaison offices and Europol.

CEPOL, represented by Stefano Failla, External Relations Officer, focused its presentation on the future potential of the Agency and stressed that a European training scheme for senior police officers represents an added value for cooperation among police forces.

Valerio Papajorgji, Europol Team Leader, dealt with the objectives of the AWF Twins concerning sexual exploitation of children, i.e.

• to identify criminals and establish links within countries that are involved in the project;
• to identify the criminal modus operandi and highlight the communication system used by criminal groups so as to dismantle them;
• to identify victims so as to stop sexual abuse and allow competent authorities to start the required procedures for their recovery process;
• to stop re-victimization of abused children through circulation of illegal material.

David Ellero, Europol expert for the fight against trafficking in human beings, presented an overview of this criminal phenomenon followed by a detailed report on the nature and characteristics of criminal groups involved in sexual exploitation – the most widespread form of trafficking in human beings – and child exploitation. His presentation finished with a case study about the “Black Axe” operation which targets a very dangerous Nigerian criminal organisation.

Massimiliano Michenzi, member of the AWF Terminal, which deals with the fight against payment card frauds, illustrated various investigative techniques implemented in connection with some case studies. Furthermore, he analysed the support provided by Europol in the fight against forgery of money.

Roberto Codesal, head of the AWF EEOC project, analyzed Eastern European organised crime. The “Rescue Operation” case study was also analysed and participants’ attention was drawn to the “HAVEN” project (Halting Europeans Abusing Victims in Every Nation), aimed at countering illegal activities – notably, sexual abuse – committed by EU nationals who travel worldwide to the detriment of children living in the destination countries.

All of the Europol experts were supported by the following Italian experts: Luigi Mancuso, Salvatore Ciprì, Elvira D’Amato, Nicola Fusco and Gaetano Terrasini.

The event concluded with four workshops that provided participants with the opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the topics covered.

The seminar stressed the need to raise Italian national police forces’ awareness of the benefits that could be had from Europol’s support to their investigations. This valuable support can be in the form of criminal intelligence management as well as use of advanced technologies and is provided to those Member States that request Europol’s cooperation. With this in mind, a significant proposal was made, i.e. to include these topics in the professional courses for Italian police forces to be held in the 2012-2013 academic year.

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