With the participation of more than 11 FIEP forces, Lekhwiya Force has organized a seminar on “The use of new technologies in the security of major events”, under the direct sponsorship of H.E Sheikh Abdullah Bin Naser AL-THANI, Commander of Lekhwiya Force.
Brigadier General Khalid ALHOUTY, Commander of VIP Protection Group, officially opened the sessions by welcoming the participants and he expressed his appreciation related to the activities developed through FIEP. Moreover, as a representative of the Romanian FIEP Presidency, Major Cornelia DUMITRASCU had an introductory speech underlining the importance of the seminar based on thought-provoking examples, exchange of best practices and lessons learned.
Each FIEP force shared its experience in the field of security of major events, relying on the lessons learned from their respective operational commitments and the technologies they have developed to better ensure the security during major events.
• Captain Khalid ALJABER, head of I.T Department, from the Qatari force, presented the aspects related to the 2015 world handball championship, the newly developed accreditation system and online cooperation with INTERPOL, the criminal system database and cyber criminality. Captain Mohamed Hassan ALHAYDOUS, from the Qatar MO, presented to the participants the electronic Visa System in addition to the STADIA project which deals with the sport security.
• The Romanian Gendarmerie appointed Captain Adrian COSTIN as expert for the seminar to expose a briefing on “The Unique System for Reporting Events”. The main aspects presented referred to the general objectives of the application’s development, its purpose, a general description, the logical architecture of the system and the institutional benefits.
• The French Gendarmerie national experts delivered 2 presentations. The first one presented the lessons learned from the 70th Anniversary of Normandy landing and the COP 21, two recent major events in which the gendarmerie was deeply involved. The second one tackled the issue of the fight against hostile drones.
• The Royal Marechaussee of Netherlands shared its experience in the security of major events, speaking about the terrorist attack which targeted the royal family on the Queens Day and how the use of surveillance and identification helped to control the scene and gave details on the policemen behavioural control in the contact with the public.
• The Spanish Guardia civil shared its experience on the use of forensic in the major disasters, explaining the techniques and equipment used in the field.
• The Italian Arma dei Carabinieri presented the Expo 2015 security plan and the use of command centre and coordination among the stakeholders in the major events.
• In addition, the Tunisian gendarmerie’s representative and the Portuguese Guarda Nacional Republicana expert made comprehensive presentations on their past experiences regarding cybercrimes, online ticketing and application developments.
Colonel Jean-Luc Berard, as representative of the French Gendarmerie Nationale, underlined the following: “The general topic of Qatar seminar and its excellent organization, the quality of the presentations and the level of expertise, allowed FIEP Members to exchange and learn a lot, on matters of great interest to them, especially in this terrorism risk context when major events are a most important issue for security forces. The seminar has also shown how new technologies are a key tool for these forces to improve their work to the benefit of their fellow citizens.”
Moreover, the delegation representing the FIEP Presidency stressed that “The Romanian Gendarmerie highly appreciates the constant involvement of the Lekhwiya force within the FIEP activities and encourages them to keep up the good work, considering that the contribution of Lekhwiya permanently contributes to the development of the FIEP Association.”