A CEPOL seminar on Public Order and Crowd Management, hosted by France at Lognes, from 15 - 19 September 2014 was attended by 29 participants, including three from Iceland and Norway. This was the first part of a two part seminar – the second of which will be held in Portugal.
Seven experts from five countries (France, Bulgaria, Portugal, Sweden & UK) delivered presentations of their national situations regarding legislation, equipment and the resources they have to respond to this issue. Each also explained how they balanced security goals and the respect of freedom of expression.
In addition to the theoretical contributions there was an exercise on the use of fake grenades.
The key message for the audience was that cooperation and harmonisation of training are becoming vital to strengthen the efficiency of anti-riot units involved in public order and major event security, particularly at European level.
CEPOL was identified as the best institution to disseminate both knowledge and skills among Member States and their specialised units.
