Project partners

Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, Police (Applicant and project coordinator)

Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), German (Project partner)

Valsts, Latvia (Project partner)

Project duration

15. 1. 2020 – 14. 1. 2022 (24 months)

Summary

The ISLE-IC project is the upgrade of the original ISLE project and brings together 23 EU Member States and Norway. With the continuation of the project, the project partners want to include other EU Member States and non-EU Member States (i.e. Switzerland, Western Balkan countries) into the ISLE network. The guiding principles of the project are collaboration, facilitating further research into the use of CME measures, knowledge transfer and development of CME tools, upgrading databases, codes, etc.

The project will host 8 topic oriented workshops (TOWS) and 2 annual conferences for participating Member States. A short-term contribution of the TOWS workshops will be the exchange of the latest good practices and the presentation of the latest technology and CME techniques. The medium-term contribution of the TOWS workshops will be enhanced CME capacity and maintenance of the ISLE platform, which is also supported by EUROPOL (within EPE - European portal for experts), as one of the activities in a joint effort to prevent and combat crime and ensure security.

The implementing consortium of the ISLE-IC project consists of three EU member states, Slovenia as a lead partner and project coordinator, and Germany and Latvia as project partners. EU Member States involved in the ISLE platform are: DE, NL, BE, AT, IT, EE, ES, FR, CZ, HU, GB, IE, FI, SI, PT, DK, SE, PL, SK, LU , LV, HR, LT and Norway as non EU MS.

Target group of the ISLE-IC project are police experts.

The project objective is to improve the success rate in investigation of criminal offenses in the area of trafficking in weapons and organized crime by using CME techniques, tools and equipment, as well as improve professional skills of professionals working in the field. At the same time with the improved ISLE platform (EPE database portal, concrete tactical and technical solutions from the field, etc.) communication between participating EU MS experts in this field will be enhanced, contributing to more active cross-border cooperation in the fight against trafficking weapons and intertwined forms of organized crime.

Project goals

An improved ISLE platform in the field of CME that will enable the practical and operational exchange of information, knowledge, professional skills, training, etc. The goals of the project are also:

• identification of common operational needs in the field of CME
• the setting up of a unified curriculum (curriculum) or training program for skills development for professionals using CME techniques, tools, equipment in their work
• 105 trained participants in eight topic oriented hands-on workshops
• enlargement of the ISLE Group - an invitation to new countries that will use special CME techniques (Switzerland, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and if possible also the countries from the Western Balkans)
• establishing of partnerships, fostering the flow of knowledge and experience among experts on CME techniques and cooperation with external institutions, vehicle manufacturers, equipment, etc.

Project activities

• project management and coordination
• implementation of 8 topic oriented practical workshops (TOWS)
• implementation of a Kick-off meeting, first presentation of ISLE-IC project activities
• organization of 2 annual conferences for all participating states
• organization of a closing meeting
• adoption of a common curriculum for all participating states
• development of an upgrade of the EPE ISLE database platform
• analysis of agreements from meetings, analysis of results of practical workshops, use of new methods and techniques for regular work and practice, etc.
• establishing of partnerships, fostering the flow of knowledge and experience among CME professionals
• coordination of activities to improve development opportunities and to ensure better access to expert know-how and training
• enlargement of the ISLE Group, proposal to include “new” EU Member States as well as other countries

Expected results

Expected resultsof the ISLE-IC project are knowledge transfer, exchange of good practices, experts’ development, improved platform for communication of experts, easier transfer of information and consequently faster response in specific situations.

Funding

Internal Security Fund – Police, 2014–2020; DG Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission, within the Call of proposals for projects on the fight against firearms trafficking (ISFP-2018-AG-OC-FIRE).

Total value of the project: 560.061,54 EUR

EU co-financing: 90 %

Own contribution: 10 %