On 25-27 March 2025, the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) organised the CEPOL Research and Science Conference in Ostia (Rome, Italy), in cooperation with the Economic and Financial Police School of the Italian Guardia di Finanza.
The conference tackled the theme of High-Risk Criminal Networks (HRCN) and assembled more than 360 participants from 54 countries, among which more than 130 speakers and 13 EU-funded research projects. The audience included researchers, academics, law enforcement and judicial practitioners, policymakers, and representatives of other EC agencies such as DG HOME, EUROPOL and EU-LISA.
Grigore Havârneanu, Senior Research Advisor in the UIC Security Department, represented the EU co-funded project IMPRESS (IMProving Railway sEcurity through awareneSS and training) coordinated by UIC. His presentation focused on the IMPRESS approach to disrupt violent crime and attacks through a whole community approach to railway security training.
The presentation highlighted the methods used to identify the training needs and the co-creation methods used to develop the training modules and awareness materials. Then, it presented the six training modules and preliminary results from the pilot tests performed in Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Belgium. Further, the audience was invited to discover the awareness video with practical tips to enhance railway security: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjMrQBfBbzs. Finally, participants were invited to join the final conference which will take place on 14 May 2025 at the UIC Headquarters, in Paris. The full paper presented at the conference will be published in the European Law Enforcement Research Bulletin.
The conference was an excellent opportunity to disseminate the IMPRESS results within Europe’s security training sector and to highlight the importance of railway security in bridging the gaps between science, policy and security operational practice. In this security continuum, basic awareness and training of all stakeholders present in the railway environment is paramount.
You can follow IMPRESS on:
Twitter/X: @IMPRESS_RAIL_EU
LinkedIn: IMPRESS_RAIL_EU
YouTube: IMPRESS_RAIL_EU
The web: https://impress-rail-project.eu/
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
