MAGNETO addresses significant needs of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in their fight against terrorism and organised crime, related to the massive volumes, heterogeneity and fragmentation of the data that officers have to analyse for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of criminal offences. These needs have been identified after consulting with eleven different European LEAs –members of the MAGNETO consortium. In response, MAGNETO empowers LEAs with superior crime analysis, prevention and investigation capabilities, by researching and providing tailored solutions and tools based on sophisticated knowledge representation, advanced semantic reasoning and augmented intelligence, well integrated in a common, modular platform with open interfaces. By using the MAGNETO platform, LEAs will have unparalleled abilities to fuse and analyse multiple massive heterogeneous data sources, uncover hidden relationships among data items, compute trends for the evolution of security incidents, ultimately (and at a faster pace) reaching solid evidence that can be used in Court, gaining also better awareness and understanding of current or past security-related situations. In parallel, MAGNETO will spark an ecosystem of third-party solution providers benefiting from its open, modular and reusable architectural framework and standard interfaces. To achieve these objectives, MAGNETO will test and demonstrate its developments on five representative and complementary use cases (types of crime), under real-life operational conditions in the facilities of eleven different LEAs, keeping them continuously in the production loop, adopting an agile implementation methodology and a multi-disciplinary scientific approach, combining researchers with exceptional track records, officers with top-level operational know-how in law enforcement, recognised experts for legal and ethical compliance to EU and national standards, and qualified training experts for innovative curricula development.

Border authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) across Europe face important challenges in how they patrol and protect the borders. Their work becomes more problematic considering the heterogeneity of threats, the wideness of the surveyed area, the adverse weather conditions and the wide range of terrains. Although there are several research tools and works targeting these areas independently for border surveillance, nowadays border authorities do not have access to an intelligent holistic solution providing all aforementioned functionalities. Towards delivering such a solution, ROBORDER aims at developing and demonstrating a fully-functional autonomous border surveillance system with unmanned mobile robots including aerial, water surface, underwater and ground vehicles, capable of functioning both as standalone and in swarms, which will incorporate multimodal sensors as part of an interoperable network. The system will be equipped with adaptable sensing and robotic technologies that can operate in a wide range of operational and environmental settings. To provide a complete and detailed situational awareness picture that supports highly efficient operations, the network of sensors will include static networked sensors such as border surveillance radars, as well as mobile sensors customised and installed on board unmanned vehicles. To succeed implementing an operational solution, a number of supplementary technologies will also be applied that will enable the establishment of robust communication links between the command and control unit and the heterogeneous robots. On top of this, detection capabilities for early identification of criminal activities and hazardous incidents will be developed. This information will be forwarded to the command and control unit that will enable the integration of large volumes of heterogeneous sensor data and the provision of a quick overview of the situation at a glance to the operators, supporting them in their decisions.

<< Background >>In a previous project involving the participation of Law Enforcement agencies in Portugal, Romania, Spain and The Netherlands, interviews were conducted with operatives in order to understand their needs in terms of training to address people with mental health problems in interventions. From these interviews a major point was stressed and it was that they themselves needed training in this area to better manage the overwhelming stress they live daily in the exercise of their profession. Having into account these inputs from Project TRUST, several Law Enforcement agencies from Europe combined efforts to provide the context for providing this support and improving the well-being of their operatives, within the context of this application. World Health Organisation (WHO) describes mental well-being as a fundamental component to health and places it as one of the major concerns for the years to come (Mental Health Action Plan, 2013-2020) privileging strategies that empower people to maintain healthy behaviours, improving the Quality of Life (WHO) and reducing psychosocial risks for mental health disorders. This is also a concern by the member states in their national strategies and the production of legislation that specifically concerns work-life balance and reduction of psychosocial risks as, for instance, the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No 28/2019-Action Plan for Safety and Health at Work in Public Administration 2020 in which point V. is stated “Health promotion and psychosocial risk management complying with the technical guidelines of the Directorate-General for Health and prevention of workplace harassment”. Working conditions in Western countries have undergone tremendous changes in the organization of work and demands on workers in the last decades. A high percentage of workers in the European Union are exposed to psychosocial stressors in the workplace, and the consequences are dire for workers, organizations, and for society at large (Kristensen et al.,2005). Among workplace-related factors, the European Union has highlighted psychosocial factors as a priority, and is even considered one of the most important fields of research in the near future (EU-OSHA,2000). Exposure to these risks may favor the impairment of healthy functioning of individuals at an organic, emotional, cognitive, social and behavioral level. When addressing particularly stressing professions, like Law Enforcement, it is even of outmost importance to enhance the protective factors at workplace and reduce the effect of the existence of psychosocial risks, that can contribute to the development of psychological health problems at work, having an impact on the individual, the family, and the organization, by preparing Law Enforcement authorities on to manage them appropriately. Often, this permanent exposure to the aforementioned risks end up affecting individual well-being in such a way that it manifests itself in a tense family climate, which in turn will again influence their ability to work, and these, in turn, impact on the organization and, again, on the individual, becoming a circle of stressors to the well-being of that worker.<< Objectives >>The partnership aims at achieving holistic results in approach to the individual, which will improve Life Quality of the Law Enforcement operatives and a general increased well-being in organizational terms, the improvement of skills in managing stress reductors and the enhancement of knowledge on identifying those stressors and use the correct strategies to reduce high levels of suffering and preventing illness. Some of these are results based in the principles of inclusion and tolerance and transcend the tangible results of the project. The project PROTECT aims at: Enhancing life quality of Law Enforcement agents; Promoting inclusion and equity in Law Enforcement agents regarding access to training programs; Enhancing self-strategies to manage stressors in the performance of their professional activity; Augment the agents health knowledge and behaviours; Developing VET tailored answers, related to real needs and in job necessities.<< Implementation >>In order to contribute to the up stated goals, the project PROTECT will address four training modules aimed at improving Law Enforcement skills on managing stressors to well-being and reducing psychosocial risks and its impact. 1.Emergency Stress Reduction: this module intends to give skills to Law Enforcement agents on how to deal with events that can potentially escalate, both physically and/or emotionally. This is a transversal competence that can be used in the beat, when more difficult interventions are required, but also, can be transferred to the work environment or home when high levels of stress can lead to a lack of appropriate response and deterioration of mental and psychical wellbeing. 2.Strategies for Normative Mourning: several times Law Enforcement needs to deal with death. Sometimes it involves the death of an unknown, a suicide, picking the body, being in a homicide scene, other times involves dealing with the death of a colleague agent. These skills are not addressed in regular training. This module will give law enforcement agents competences to appropriately deal with death and mourning, promoting skills of leading an normative mourning (from a developmental and psychological point of view), reducing stress and anxiety factors related to death. 3.Healthy Phasing-Out: this training module is directed to agents near retirement. Retirement can be an increasing factor of vulnerability for mental illness, since individuals usually associate retirement with a uselessness sense of self and also, most of the individuals, go home with no activities or hobbies in mind creating an empty that can transform into depression or other type of unhealthy mental state. It is necessary to prepare individuals for retirement. Healthy Phasing-Out involves skills of gradual disconnection to work, both cognitive and emotional, that will allow agents to much better accept transition to retirement when it comes. By promoting this we are also promoting a healthier work environment, where stressors, like retirement, can be organizationally gradually approached. 4.Work-Life Balance: this training approach will focus on the balance, homeostasis between work and personal life. If on the one hand we have the labor demands, a harder work day, or even a conflict, that can interfere with the police officer, and of course, the impact this will have on his/her mood and well-being when they get home; on the other hand, there are also family situations, such as a spouse's health problem, the low school performance of a child, a mourning for a friend, or even the financial demands of the family, which also influence the mood and well- being with which the work functions, thus becoming a disastrous cycle for the individual, his family, and the organization for which he/she works. This module will help both the organization and the individuals develop strategies that favor this balance, under penalty of increased absenteeism and presenteeism, decreased productivity, financial loss, and overall impact on organizational functioning, and, when dealing with risk professions, increasing danger for lack of adequate response.<< Results >>Regarding tangible Results we will achieve four training programs each one leading to a Training Manual, so a total of 4 in English, that will be translated into the mother tongues of the countries, so a total of 20 Training Manuals in the areas already above stated: 1. Emergency Stress Reduction; 2. Strategies for Normative Mourning; 3. Healthy Phasing-Out; 4. Work-Life Balance. Another outcome will be the integration of these training programs in the regular training practices of the institutions. The partner institutions, which are also Law Enforcement entities with VET responsibilities and CDB as a research centre that provides counselling in the area of health law, will cascade the training program to their other partners, then to their other poles, to their congeners, to similar institutions and then to national and European associations. This process will ensure replication of the training programs at national level in the 4 countries involved and sustainability of the results of the project. The know-how acquired through our training will have an important role also through training cascade, the implementation of the methodology and the incorporation of the materials in their daily practices and also the incorporation of the training in the system options for VET. This will also ensure the replication in national terms of the training programs and the sustainability of project results. Other outcomes will be the ones stated in the measurability concerning Impact Indicators as number of participants, level of satisfaction, number of downloads of training materials, among other (see section Impact). After the end of the project the results will remain available to all willing to consult them and implement them in their practices. As stated (see Sustainability), the integration in the national VET system of the training programs developed is a major strength since it will allow all institutions to replicate the training programs developed and will assure its maintenance in time. Also, by creating adapted materials of simple reading in all training programs we expect the materials to be used even if the training is not developed. They will be available online for anyone that wishes to use them. We will also maintain our availability to promote the project and its results with seminars, lectures, meetings and other means institutions find necessary, as said. We would also like, with the success of this experience to create a national purpose on reducing the psychosocial risks at workplace and provide a better balance between professional and personal life.

Organized crime investigation can greatly benefit from the availability of very small, concealable sensing devices to monitor, record and communicate criminal activity to remote surveillance stations. Acquired data can be used as proof in Courts of Justice only if the sensing device, the communication channel and the monitoring station are tamper proof and comply with all legal, integrity and chain-of-custody requirements. The NOSY project is focused on the development of a miniaturized yet highly sensitive platform, for the detection of illicit or suspicious substances. The platform includes the development of a miniature sensing device, a monitoring station and communication infrastructure for LEA network integration. The enabling technology of the system is an innovative microelectronics sensor that combines state of the art micro and nanotechnologies with advanced smart sensing materials, which will be integrated as part of the project. In addition there will be the development of complete devices for both stand alone and embeddable monitoring and recording. A critical requirement is that the recorded or transmitted data to be usable as proof in Court. The device will include proofing from any type of external tampering; the communication channel will be secure, compliant and integrated into the existing LEA data networks. As deemed necessary by LEAs, the project will develop prototype products to help tackle illegal drug trafficking and development of homemade bombs. Accurate and unambiguous identification of substances is fundamental to allow LEA to intervene with the most suitable action or counter measure. LEAs will be involved at all critical milestones of the project, from initial requirements, to a first prototype validation, to the extensive trial phase. The project will also propose a certification process tailored to the new sensing devices to enable their legal validation for forensics use while in compliance with European privacy requirements.