The European Police College (CEPOL) held a conference on international innovation in law enforcement training at the Ludovika campus of National University of Public Service between 28-30 November, 2017. Following the great success of the 2016 conference, it was again the National University of Public Service who hosted this renowned event. This conference was a platform for the more than 200 participants from five continents to exchange law enforcement practices and widen the professional network.
The opening ceremony was held in the Chapel of the Ludovika main building where Prof. Dr. András Patyi, Rector of NUPS welcomed the guests. In his speech the Rector expressed his joy that CEPOL was organised again in cooperation with NUPS and he further highlighted the university’s comprehensive and integrated approach to public service training. He also underlined that within the framework of the Ludovika Project a milestone was reached when the Faculty of Law Enforcement recently started using the new educational building together with well-equipped specialized classrooms where students of the faculty can master their chosen profession in the most modern conditions. In his concluding remarks he also added that the CEPOL conference plays a key role in the university’s international relations as well since scholars and law enforcement officers from five continents are taking part in it.
On behalf of CEPOL, Roeland Woldhuis, Head of Corporate Services welcomed the guests. Mr. Woldhuis thanked the opportunity to have this international conference again within the walls of the Ludovika main building while he also added that the conference paper from last year’s event was recently published. He emphasized that even though Europe is prospering, the world around us is constantly changing thus developments are extremely important nowadays. This is especially applicable to the field of law enforcement where challenges are constant. Established 16 years ago, CEPOL started its activities as a small agency, however it has by now become an important organisation dedicated to develop, implement and coordinate training for law enforcement officials.
Following the opening ceremony, the event continued with the first plenary sessions moderated by Peter Davidson, representative of CEPOL. The first keynote speeches were delivered by Anabela Gago from the European Commission and by Oldrich Martinu, Deputy Executive Director of Europol.
In her presentation entitled “European security research and innovation – law enforcement perspective”, Anabela Gago detailed how much money the Commission as well as the EU are dedicating for law enforcement researches. As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, over 760 million EUR funding has been allocated to safety and security researches by the EU, which amounts to 50% of the total European countries spend in this field. The researches cover various topics including anti-terrorism, protection of borders, studying compositions of chemicals to prevent the production of improvised explosive devices. She concluded her speech by adding that the legal basis is not always smooth, but the European Commission aims to strengthen the relation and cooperation between the European law enforcement agencies in order to increase efficiency.
The event continued with the presentation of Oldrich Martinu, Deputy Executive Director of Europol who talked about “Crime in the age of technology – how can the European law enforcement community tackle the new challenges?”. Mr. Martinu pointed out that in today’s fast-paced world the criminals are also becoming faster and they use the newest IT gadgets and tools, therefore it is crucial for law enforcement officers to have the knowledge and tools to take countermeasures and capture cybercriminals. “In the age of the Internet, crime has become as borderless as the cyberspace”, said the Deputy Executive Director of Europol.
The Internet made the societies extremely open which the criminals exploit. He further provided a number of detailed examples, including the misuse of social network sites, malware and the spread of other viruses - particularly the blackmail viruses from last year - and the so-called Darknet which is the hidden part of the Internet where criminals act undetected. Europol and all the other European law enforcement agencies must prepare themselves, among the daily activities, to overcome the new challenges. Innovation, new technologies and development of new methods are key points to this preparation. Oldrich Martinu also expressed the importance of the conference, as many of the world's leading experts are involved, who could later contribute to the development of law enforcement based on the knowledge gained on this event.
The 14th edition of the CEPOL Research and Science Conference was hosted on the Ludovika Campus between 28-30 November, 2017. During the parallel sessions several countries from South America, Europe and East-Asia were represented by the 200 experts.