Mitigating security gaps: How to support local and regional authorities in adopting a comprehensive methodology to identify vulnerabilities and evaluate solutions?

It seems that institutional efforts to strengthen the role of local and regional authorities have been consolidating in Europe and beyond. The European Commission is committed to reinforcing the involvement of local and regional authorities in the protection of public spaces. It promotes dialogue and exchange between national, regional and local authorities and supports the development of operational projects. This is also reflected in the EU Security Union Strategy (2020) and in its Counter-Terrorism Agenda for the EU. At the international level, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism are implementing a Global Programme on countering terrorist threats against Vulnerable Targets which promotes a cooperative approach involving multilevel stakeholders.

This panel will discuss key policy recommendations resulting from local, European and international institutions’ work to support relevant actors in the protection of public spaces. How prepared are cities to prevent, anticipate and react to terrorist threats? What needs to be  improved to facilitate local authorities’ actions ? 

Speakers:

• Marc Léoutre, Policy Officer, DG Home, European Commission
• Maximilien Mougel, Programme Management Officer, Special Projects and Innovation Branch, United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism
• Elizabeth Johnston, Executive Director, Efus

Through  intense research and practical exercises, the PRoTECT project has developed tools that facilitate cities’ role in improving their security self assessment for the identification of vulnerabilities. These tools also allow for the scanning of existing technological solutions for the identification and evaluation of possible responses against a given security problem in public spaces.  This session will focus on those tools and how they have been tested by cities in specific public spaces. In a case study format, the experiences of city partners in the evaluation of solutions to protect their public spaces will be presented.

Speakers:

• PRoTECT Road Map
• Securipedia | Puck van den Brink, Researcher and consultant Public Safety and Security at TNO
• PRoTECT project results overview | Peter van de Crommert, Project coordinator DITSS
• PRoTECT cases studies:
  • The City of Vilnius Case study (LT)
  • The City of Malaga Case study (ES)
  • The City of Eindhoven Case study (NL)
  • The City of Larissa Case study (GR)
  • The City of Brasov Case study (RO)

Since its inception, the PRoTECT project has sought to initiate and maintain a collaboration with other projects funded by the European Commission through the Internal Security Fund Programme (ISFP), as a way of building synergies and contributing to the sharing of experiences in order to improve local action but also to create collective knowledge. 

The aim of this session is to exchange tools and practices developed by similar projects. This will support urban security stakeholders in exploring the complementarity of the various different tools, and offer opportunities to explore means of maintaining a sustainable network beyond the PRoTECT project. Finally, the session is also intended to enhance cooperation between police authorities, academic partners and further institutional European networks on the protection of public spaces.

Invited projects:

• Protect Allied Cities against TErrorism in Securing Urban aReas (PACTESUR), City of Nice
• Safer Space for Safer Cities (Safeci), Police of Berlin
• SECUR’CITIES, City of Lyon
• Applied Criminology and Policing Centre, Huddersfield University