SAFEguardinG pUblic spAces through intelligent thReat Detection tools

SAFEGUARD aims to improve the Law Enforcement Agency’s (LEA) capabilities in preventing terrorist attacks.

Operated by: KMOP

The recent terrorist attacks that have targeted open and easily accessible public areas in several European cities, including malls, crowded gathering areas, places of worship, and transportation infrastructures pose a challenge for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to provide effective countermeasure solutions for the protection of public spaces. Increasing pressure is put on governments and European authorities, given the rise of extremist activities perpetrated by organisations, groups, or radicalised individuals (known as lone wolfs) with an underlying political or ideological orientation, which severely impact citizens, disrupt the socioeconomic stability of modern societies, and undermine public confidence in national authorities. The recent terrorist attacks in Europe have also uncovered the extensive abuse of Surface, Deep, and Dark Web and social media services, used as cross-cutting enablers of terrorist activities, in terms of orchestrating operations and recruiting new members and perpetrators of future assaults. In this context, LEAS need to monitor suspicious behaviour in public spaces before and during large events of interest, leveraging advanced and targeted technologies aiming to correlate potential criminal and/or terrorist activities in near real-time, to prevent and mitigate a possible threat.