The beautiful, sunny and rather warm October 2021 gave a great chance for SCAPE II (No. LLI-451) project partners and guests to participated in a practical seminar organized by the Latvian State Police Kurzeme Region Department. The 2-day seminar took place in Liepaja on the 7-8th of October. On the first day of the seminar, staff members of all four project partner institutions (Klaipėda County Police Headquarters, Administration of Palanga’s City Municipality, Liepaja Municipal Police, State Police of Latvia Kurzeme Regional Department) presented their experience gained in SCAPE and SCAPE II projects during implementation of joint activities, purchased equipment, reviewed the problems and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of both the project and day-to-day work.

The guests of the event Ruslans Pečiulis, Head of the Fisheries Control Division of the State Environmental Service of the Republic of Latvia, as well as Major Inga Mežale, the Head of the Border and Immigration Control Service of the Ventspils Board of the Latvian State Border Guard Service, read reports on the positive and negative aspects of their work, contacts and prospects for cooperation. Associate Professor of the Latvian State Police College, Head of the Internal Security Service of “G4S Latvia”, former Chief of the State Police of Latvia Artis Velšs presented the growing trends in the security sector, the latest innovations and technological solutions that could be applied and used in policing.

On the second day of the seminar, the participants got acquainted with the equipment purchased during the project (cars, drones, night vision and thermal cameras, equipment, etc.) and used by Latvian police officers and performed a practical task – divided into teams according to the provided route in Liepaja where they had a possibility to assess the security aspects of public spaces. Liepaja Municipal Police and State Police of Latvia officers described the most common problems at the route stops (various public order violations, property destruction, drug distribution, disregarded traffic rules, etc.), while Latvian and Lithuanian officers and other participants suggested ways to solve the problems, visible gaps, assessed existing and missing infrastructure for public security (video surveillance systems, lighting, etc.). In this way, the project partners exchanged good examples, proven solutions and good work practices.