Final Report Summary - EU-SEC II (Coordinating National Research Programmes and Policies on Security at Major Events in Europe)
Executive Summary:
Coordinating National Research Programmes and Policies on Security during Major Events in Europe (EU-SEC II), is a three-year project that was conceived as a follow up to the four-year project EU-SEC (Coordinating National Research Programmes on Security during Major Events in Europe). EU-SEC II builds upon the experience and findings of EU-SEC and seeks to address not only research programmes, but also research policies on security, to pave the way for the construction of the European House of Major Events Security (the House). The House is a virtual environment, that once fully operational, will provide effective methodologies for the elaboration of common research programmes and policies, directly reflecting and including end-users requirements.
This three year project (started 1 July 2008 and ended the 31 October 2011) receives 100% funding from the DG Enterprise and Industry, with a total grant of €2,527,000. The innovative aspect of the project was the application of advanced managerial skills to security cooperation. The results, insights, and best practices developed through EU-SEC II shall be utilised as strategic research and technology models at the national and European levels. A crucial feature of EU-SEC II is to create improvements in security cooperation, planning and preparation that will be sustainable over time and remain useful for Member States in decades to come.
EU-SEC II aimed to facilitate and coordinate all available technical, financial and human resources in order to prevent the fragmentation of ideas and the duplication of efforts, thus optimising the efficiency of research programmes and policies. Furthermore, the project aimed to synchronize private security technology providers with national security practitioners, facilitating the development and supply of effective security technologies. Using this model, the project contributed to the common understanding and identification of needs and priorities, in order to facilitate the development of efficient, cost-effective security tools for Member States and to provide a research roadmap for relevant EU institutions.
UNICRI, as the Project Coordinator, facilitated the smooth implementation of the project. The Institute monitored the correct development of the project and ensured the coordination among the partners by disseminating a set of jointly elaborated criteria and working language. In its capacity as coordinator UNICRI was also responsible for ensuring that trust and good team spirit were fostered among the partners.
The project was composed of a broad collation of 24 partners, 22 being European partners ranging from Ministries of the Interior to Ministries of Justice, to Police Academies; furthermore, EUROPOL was involved in the project.
During the implementation of the project a series of field tests were carried out with a view to assess to assess the coordination tools/methodologies (CTMs) that are offered by the House, the main coordination tool elaborated by the project Consortium and put at the disposal of the EU national authorities in charge of the security planning for Major Events.
Project Context and Objectives:
EU-SEC II was designed as a cooperation effort among UNICRI, EUROPOL and 22 European Countries, to finalize the research coordination path towards the launch of the European House of Major Events Security, a common tool to provide technical assistance to the security planners in preparation of Major Events in Europe.
Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK were represented in the Project trough their Ministries of the Interior, Ministries of Justice, or Police Academies.
The activities of the project has been divided into 5 Work Packages (WPs) which are set out below:
1. Work Package 0 (WP0) – Management Activities
2. Work Package 1 (WP1) – Information Exchange - Improving knowledge of each other
3. Work Package 2 (WP2) –Strategic Activities – Reflecting on what is needed to speak with one voice
4. Work Package 3 (WP3) – Joint Activities – Elaborating common research policies
5. Work Package 4 (WP4) – Trans-national activities – to respond to EU/national demands through coordinated action
6. Work Package 5 (WP5)– comprehensive manual on EU-SEC II
Each Work Package (WP) was further subdivided into various tasks.
Work Package 1 allowed the Consortium partners to improve the knowledge of the respective research activities and policies in the field of Major Events security. This was the WP that laid the foundations for the step-by-step approach of the entire EU-SEC II project. It is during this WP that all the Consortium partners met at the Kick-off meeting. Furthermore trough WP1 the project mapped what the current state of the art is in national research programmes and policies. WP1 also envisaged the completion of the secure portal (www.eu-secii.org/extranet) to facilitate communication between the partners and the EU-SEC II logo.
Work Package 2 aimed at exploring the complementarities and barriers to the coordination of different national research programmes and policies in order to lay the foundations to support innovation that is at the root of the subsequent project phases. With the completion of WP2 the partners acquired a clear overview of the future possibilities to speak with one voice by elaborating common research priorities and policies endorsed by the whole Consortium. In addition, within WP 2 some field tests of the House were developed. Namely virtual tests of STEP and EMER have been undertaken to ensure that the House, once constructed, will offer services that will be useful and adequately meet the needs of European Major Events security planners
Work Package 3 aimed at producing a common methodology for the elaboration of a joint research policy paving the way for durable cooperation at European level. WP3 was envisaged to build upon the work undertaken in WP2. The crux of this WP was to further investigate what services the House can offer, focusing in particular on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), common research standards and media management. The final output has been a pilot research strategic roadmap to direct future research priorities in this area.
More in details, Task 3.1 was aimed to define guidelines to address the relationship between public and the private sector in the security planning Major Events; Task 3.2 was implemented to elaborate common research standards among the partners; Task 3.3 was focused on the identification of the best practice emerged in the relationship between the public authorities (security planners) and the media; Task 3.4 consisted in the elaboration and publication of the Pilot Security Research Strategic Roadmap; and Task 3.5 entirely developed in the third reporting period, consisted in the organization of a meeting to present the main outcomes of the WP 3.
Work Package 4 aimed to elaborate concrete modalities to respond to EU/National research coordination exigencies in the field of security at Major Events based on the results achieved with the previous WPs. Moreover the carried-out test events served to fine-tune and test the main findings of the previous WPs and the related Deliverables.
To this purpose UNICRI, the leader of the WP 4, identified in cooperation with the relevant consortium Partners, a series of Major Events to test the finding and provide inputs for the improvement of the Pilot Security Research Strategic Roadmap. In particular, following the decision to test the services to be provided by the House taken by the Consortium Partners in the NSC Meeting 2009, six major events were targeted: the Climate Change Conference 2009 in Denmark (in the Post-Event Evaluation perspective) the Pope’s Visit to Cyprus in 2010; the Champions League Final 2011; the EU Presidency 2011 in Hungary and 2012 in Cyprus and the G20 2011 in France.
Work Package 5 envisaged the elaboration of the EU-SEC II Manual. The Manual was published with the following title: Foundations of the European House of Major Events Security – A Manual for the International Coordination of Major Events Security Research in Europe and represents the founding document and “owner guide” for the European House of Major Events Security.
The Manual has been drafted by the Work package leader, who collected and analysed the main outputs of WPs 2-3-4 and re-elaborated them to produce a set of practical guidelines for the owners of the House’s Coordination tools/methodologies (CTMs). The Manual guides the CTMs owners on how to manage the provision of coordination assistance services to the Major Events security planners, in the effort of further coordinating the research programmes and policies in the field of security at Major Events in Europe.
All the deliverables foreseen by the project were achieved and incorporated in the following two main documents:
· Pilot Strategic Roadmap for Coordination of Security Research Policies at Major Events (WP 3)
· Foundations of the European House of Major Events Security – A Manual for the International Coordination of Major Events Security Research in Europe (WP 5)
Such documents, besides being two Deliverables of the project, clearly identify the following steps towards the coordination of the European Major Events Security planning.
The Pilot Security Research Strategic Roadmap is the conclusion of the research path started with the EU-SEC project and continued with EU-SEC II. The Roadmap, in particular, carefully analyses the end-users needs and proposes the establishment of a European House of Major Events Security (the House) as main coordination tool to assist the European Major Events security planners. The next phase of the common endeavour of the Consortium partners, Enhancing European Coordination for National Research Programmes in the Area of Security at Major Events - THE HOUSE, will be specifically devoted to make the House operational by associating and provide coordination assistance to live Major Events.
The Manual is a compendium of all the necessary steps to be undertaken for the establishment of the House, including a detailed description of all the coordination tools and methodologies (CTMs), which will be available to the European security planners once The House is operational.
More in details, once fully operational, the House will be able to provide the requesting Members States, with the following services:
· Common IPO Security Planning Model
· Best Practice in Public-Private Partnerships
· Media Management Guidelines for Major Events
· Ethical and Operational Standards for Security Product
· Special Technical Equipment Pool (STEP)
· European Major Event Register (EMER)
· Networking and Training
Project Results:
N/A
Potential Impact:
Major Events nowadays raise security challenges that cannot be dealt with by the host nation alone. Identifying and preventing security risks from becoming a reality and thereby controlling the desired outcome of the measures taken, require multinational efforts and coordination.
In this perspective, it is preferable a European approach, rather than a national or local one. A unique common research policy on security at Major Events elaborated at European level, in fact, is the best means to avoid duplication of efforts and fragmentation, to fill the existing research gaps on different topics and to enhance the use of available technical, human and financial resources.
The main impact of the EU-SEC II project is linked to the fact that its Consortium, made exclusive of public end-users acting in a common platform proved to be able to speak with one voice to express common needs and prorioties. In this respect, the Consortium is now in the position to boost and directly influence the European security market, through the elaboration and promotion of common research policies and a common set of criteria to build partnership between the private and public security sectors for the provision of security at Major Events.
Moreover, based on the Pilot Security Strategic Roadmap, the EU-SEC II Consortium can move towards the synchronization of the EU national end-users to orientate and underpin European, national and private research programmes.
Another significant impact of the project is the improvement of the policing coordination across Europe. The Pilot Security Strategic Roadmap and the Manual, two main pillars of the European House of Major Events Security, clearly represent the materialization of a common effort at the European level. The House has now the duty to translate this effort in a coordinated action for future Major Events to be planned in Europe.
In addition the project was directly beneficial at the national level, allowing the partners to set a mechanism of regular exchange of information, identification of common needs and best practice. The secure portal became a very useful tool for the Partners to share relevant documentation, research and analysis as well as information on common research policies, strategies and results achieved during the development of the activities.
The coordination of the research policies designed and conducted within EU-SECII improved the networking and cooperation between the participating EU countries, also on the basis of the trust-building action carried-out among the security policy-makers and practitioners involved in the project. It also enabled the Consortium partners to optimise the use of their available human and financial resources in view of an effective elaboration of common research policies and strategic plans in the area of Major Events security.
More in general, the coordination of the security planning at Major Event, main research programme carried-out by the participating countries, provides significant opportunities to enhance capacity, overcome obstacles, redefine standard operating procedures, and build the relationships required to effectively evaluating post-event. Furthermore, the security strategies and methodologies elaborated in occasion of Major Events are suitable to bring along a significant legacy to enhance crime prevention and develop robust responses to the need of a common policing approach needed to tackle the wider security governance environment.
In this regard, the elaboration of a Major Events security planning based on a commonly agreed methodology and standards produces the following long-term benefits:
· A stronger cooperation and coordination among all relevant security stakeholders, inlcluding the private sector, to develop integrated and comprehensive operational security plans based on a set of common standards and methodologies;
· The enhancement of a permanent regional cooperation among EU law enforcement agencies to share lessons learned and best practices for security during Major Events to be converted in the framework of common public order strategies and, more in general, policing approach;
· The implementation of specific training curricula to disseminate common policing methods and a culture of increased attention to the relations with the customers and the media as well as to the importance of daily cooperation with omologues in other countries;
· The building of a good reputation for EU countries that prove to be able to host safe, secure and incident-free Major Events. This has a direct impact on the perception of security of the EU citizens and can have a consequent positive effect on the success of the crime prevention and public order policies adopted within the European Union.
List of Websites:
http://www.eu-secii.org
Alberto Contaretti, Head, Major Events Security, UNICRI
Tel: +39 011 6537136
Fax: +39 011 6313368
E-mail: contaretti@unicri.it