Newly designed CEPOL activity, dedicated to environmental crime, takes place in Budapest

From 26-30 June, a newly designed activity took place at the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) headquarters in Budapest.  Following the adoption of the agency’s Strategy 2023-2027, the CEPOL Workshop on Environmental Crime (22/2023/ONS) was the first to be delivered in this new activity format, aiming to offer a unique learning and networking opportunity for law enforcement practitioners, academics and researchers. By connecting research findings, developed technologies and tools with law enforcement practices we can step up our common efforts in the prevention and fight against serious and organised crime.  

CEPOL onsite activity 22/2023/ONS, under the umbrella of the EMPACT Operational Action Plan (OAP) 2023 on Environmental Crime, had a twofold purpose:

• From a law enforcement perspective, it strengthened the fight against environmental crime by providing a better understanding of recent crime patterns against the environment, sharing good practices, and promoting the use of EU cooperation tools, cross-border intelligence exchange and the application of financial investigative techniques.
• From an academic/research perspective, by bringing together academics, researchers and law enforcement practitioners working in the field, the activity also encouraged fruitful discussions that will help boost research in this area. Furthermore, it was the first step for the development of a thematic issue of the European Law Enforcement Research Bulletin dedicated to environmental crime, which will be  released in 2024.

Opening the workshop, CEPOL Executive Director, Ms. Montserrat Marín López highlighted the importance of this new initiative, within the scope of the new CEPOL Strategy. The final programme of the workshop was developed with input from participants who were requested to prioritise their training needs by replying to a questionnaire. This step ensured that the most relevant topics were addressed during the workshop, thus enhancing the value of the learning process and outcomes. Throughout the activity, 25 participants (from 18 EU Member States and Ukraine) and 20 trainers (*), with expertise on environmental crime aspects, had the opportunity to meet in person, share experiences and knowledge, and learn from each other.

Following the blended learning approach of the CEPOL Strategy 2023-2027, prior to the workshop, a mandatory kick-off webinar was organised on 17 May. The aim of the webinar was for participants and experts to meet online and introduce themselves. Webinar attendees were informed by the Activity Manager (CEPOL EMPACT Sector) and the CEPOL Research and Knowledge Management Officer about the concept of this newly designed training activity. Participants were also asked to deliver a pre-activity assignment: Prepare a paper on a relevant topic (training materials for the assignments were provided by the trainers and uploaded on CEPOL’s Law Enforcement Education platform, LEEd). The papers were presented and discussed during the workshop. Feedback was provided by the experts, so that participants could continue working on their assignments after the completion of the workshop.

Later this year, CEPOL is planning two more activities under the same format: Best practices for Heads of Law enforcement Training Institutes (90/2023/ONS) in October, and Workshop for Heads of Riot Units (91/2023/ONS) in November.

More information on this year’s training opportunities is available in the CEPOL Training Catalogue 2023.

(*) from EUROPOL, EUROJUST, OLAF, Wildlife Justice Commission, TRAFFIC, Adelaide University (Australia), Federal University of Bahia (Brazil), Porto University, Polytechnic University of Milano, University of Vienna, University of Munich, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Information Technologies Institute (CERTH-ITI), Center for Security Studies (KEMEA), PERIVALLON EU funded project, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Italy.