PRESS RELEASE
The “POP-ART – Protection Of Public spaces by means of an Advanced secuRity plaΤform” Project (https://popartproject.eu/), has been launched with implementation period being 01/06/2023 – 31/05/2025 and a total budget of €1,080,000.
POP-ART’s main objective is to improve the security of EU citizens against threats and attacks in public spaces and mass gatherings. To achieve this, it will offer technological tools that provide a coordinated and effective action for the prevention/deterrence/mitigation of threats and attacks in these situations and scenarios.
POP-ART, is coordinated by ETRA Investigación y Desarrollo (ETRA I+D) with the Spanish National Police (PN) and European University Cyprus – CERIDES Centre-of-Excellence in Risk and Decision Sciences (EUC-CERIDES) completing the Consortium. The Portuguese Policia Judiciária (affiliated LEA) will support POP-ART activities in order to facilitate the subsequent transfer of project results and experiences to other European police forces.
The proposed technical solution is based on a platform that enables the secure processing and sharing of large amounts of data collected in real time, including Big Data analysis and AI and machine learning techniques for the processing of images and audio from different sources, with a special focus on drones. It also provides information about the situations occurring at the event, allowing the identification of violent behaviour or irregular activities. As a result, different types of alerts and guidance can be sent to police officers deployed on the ground and to the authorities involved in managing the security of the public space being protected. The technological solutions demonstrated in POP-ART will be integrated into the existing information systems of the Spanish National Police to enable the improvement of its capabilities and the training of its officers in these technologies.
POP-ART will also generate and share good practices to improve the protection of public spaces and raise awareness among citizens and society at large about existing threats and how to address them. In this sense, security awareness campaigns will be deployed, as well as practical training sessions, provided by EUC-CERIDES. Finally, the project will provide tools for communication and exchange of threat information between local and regional authorities to guide them in making the best decisions on how to protect open spaces in European cities.
The project is co-funded by the European Union’s Internal Security Fund (ISF), the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Cyprus.
