In order to support the fight against radicalization and thus prevent future terrorist attacks from taking place, the CounteR project will bring data from disperse sources into an analysis and early alert platform for data mining and prediction of critical areas (e.g. communities), aiming to be a frontline community policing tool which looks at the community and its related risk factors rather than targeting and surveilling individuals. This is a key point in ensuring the privacy of citizens and the protection of their personal data, an issue that has been of great concern to policymakers and LEAs alike, who must balance the important work they do with the need to protect innocent individuals. The system will incorporate state of the art NLP technologies combined with expert knowledge into the psychology of radicalization processes to provide a complete solution for LEAs to understand the when, where and why of radicalization in the community to help combat propaganda, fundraising, recruitment and mobilization, networking, information sharing, planning/coordination, data manipulation and misinformation. Information gained by the system will also allow LEAs and other community stakeholders to implement prevention programs and employ counternarratives rather than relying solely on surveillance. The CounteR solution will cover a wide range of information sources, both dynamic (e.g. social media) and offline (e.g. open data sources) and combined with world-renowned expertise in radicalization processes and their psychology. The CounteR solution will allow LEAs to take coordinated action in real-time while also preserving the privacy of citizens, as the system will target “hotspots” of radicalization rather than individuals. In addition, the CounteR solution will support information sharing between European LEAs and foster collaboration between diverse agencies by providing an open platform which prioritizes harmonized information formats.

RITHMS project intends to boost the operational capacity of Police and Customs/Border Authorities in addressing the increasingly organised and poly-criminal nature of trafficking in cultural goods through research, technological innovation, outreach and training. Illicit trade in cultural heritage has progressed from a local phenomenon limited to the initiative of a few individuals to a highly remunerative source of income for criminal organisations and terrorist groups that have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by the web and social media to further expand an already flourishing market. Against this background, RITHMS proposes an interdisciplinary approach made necessary by the transnational character of this crime and its links to other criminal networks. The project will define a replicable strategy to counter the challenges in addressing the illicit trafficking of stolen/looted cultural goods and to investigate the mechanisms underpinning it, including its connection with organised crime. RITHMS will foster cross-cutting research bringing together all the domains relevant to expand the understanding of this type of crime (art market, criminology, law studies, forensic science, etc.). Inputs from these disciplines will inform the theoretical framework underlying an interoperable AI-based Platform able to identify criminal organised networks and to provide investigators with valuable intelligence on the activities and evolution of such networks. The Platform will be leveraging the methods of Social Network Analysis (SNA), a methodology that gives a way to better understand human behaviour through people's relations and interactions. Including four Police authorities, two Border Agencies, one Police School, SMEs, and researchers from SSH and ICT, RITHMS Consortium is well positioned to offer solutions to counteract more effectively organisations involved in illicit activities against cultural heritage.

PROPHETS will look at redefining new methods to prevent, investigate and mitigate cybercriminal behaviours through the development of a coherent, EU-wide, adaptive SECURITY MODEL, built upon the interplay of the human factors within the new cyber ecosystem and capable of addressing the four fundamental dimensions at the core of the phenomenon: 1. early identification of security threats; 2. investigations within a new public-private governance; 3. Increased complexity of the response due to the expansion of the security perimeter towards new societal fields and the emergence of challenging jurisdictional problems; and, last but not least, 4. perception of security and freedoms among citizens, which requires a new communication strategy for LEAs and security policy makers.

Local surveillance assemblages can be broken down into three constitutive and interrelated parts: technologies used, stakeholders involved and the data transfer between them. This project uses the notion of the 'surveillant assemblage' proposed by Haggerty & Ericson (2000) and inspired by Deleuze & Guattari (1988) as the starting point to provide a better understanding of how surveillance technologies are governed Surveillance practices threaten the privacy of citizens and visitors of public gatherings, but they also have a social impact and economic cost. The first overarching purpose of the GATHERINGS project consists of three ambitions: - to improve the efficacy of surveillance in order to render public gatherings safer - to increase the fairness and transparency of surveillance by making it more privacy-friendly, - to boost feasibility of surveillance for involved stakeholder by making it more cost-effective, both economically and socially. The second overarching purpose is to identify gaps in terms of awareness among professionals and citizens, and bringing about international harmonisation of good practices and common standards with regard to the privacy-friendly, socially sensitive, cost-effective surveillance of safer public gatherings. In order to respond to the call priorities, the GATHERINGS project will: - develop common standards, to maximise privacy and data protection in surveillance practices - develop an accessible matrix, to be used by surveillance professionals, local administrations and event organisers, to weigh security against privacy, economic cost and social impact - set up an international network of surveillance professionals, administrations, experts, policy makers and citizens - develop an awareness-raising programme for citizens and civil society - develop an awareness-raising programme for surveillance professionals - formulate policy recommendations - search for synergies with other ongoing security research projects

The Unity vision is to strengthen the connection between the police and the diverse communities they serve to maximise the safety and security of all citizens. The end-user focus of Unity shall identify best practices in Community Policing (CP) through primary and secondary research to enhance cooperation between Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and citizens through the development and live pilot demonstrations of technological tools in six EU member states that facilitate, strengthen and accelerate community and LEAs communications. These tools shall be amplified and supported by the design and delivery of CP training and awareness raising activities to LEAs, citizens and community partners, including online virtual communities. Unity will provide LEAs with a new CP model and shared framework of governance and enabling tools and technology to support closer cooperation for greater, more effective and efficient and more inclusive CP. The citizen-centred approach of Unity support the combined protection, safety, security and well-being of communities, but it will also support a more collective, shared ownership of large scale, collective risk. Coordinated by pioneers and practitioners in CP, Unity seeks new ways of working in which the police will serve as a catalyst for change within communities, helping the latter to become an integral part of the solution, and thereby sharing the ownership and delivery of a sustainable CP model which simultaneously embraces the benefits of technology while meeting diverse community needs. This new and sustainable citizen-centred CP model will have community trust and confidence at its heart, with the ability for two-way flows of information and communication to allow for greater understanding of the problems and issues faced by communities. By working with citizens and community stakeholders to arrive at a full understanding of their concerns, targeted interventions and solutions can be agreed to keep local communities safe