Expert seminar on cybercrime

​The Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, in cooperation with the National Centre for Combating Organized Crime of the Police of the Czech Republic, organized the international CEPA Cybercrime Seminar at the Police School Prague - Hrdlořezy from 24 to 27 June 2019.

During the four days of the seminar, speakers and participants exchanged their experiences in the field of cybercrime. Preventive approaches and strategies to combat cybercrime were discussed and special investigation methods were discussed.

The experts gave lectures on investigative approaches and proposed solutions for transnational cooperation in the fight against cybercrime. The seminar participants presented current investigative procedures based on practical examples from the individual CEPA countries.

A total of 26 seminar participants from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and Germany took part in this CEPA training. They also had the opportunity to get to know working life at the Police School Prague - Hrdlořezy and to make new professional and collegial contacts. 

CEPA Course Leader Conference for the 28th CEPA Main Course 2020

From 06.-08.08.2019 the course instructor conference for the 28th CEPA Main Course 2020 was held in Bavaria in Ainring at the Bavarian Police Training Institute. The course instructor conference was opened by Johann-Peter Holzner, head of the Bavarian Police Training Institute. At the opening ceremony, the head of the institute emphasized the importance of CEPA in Europe in connection with international police cooperation. Johann-Peter Holzer has been a sponsor and supporter of CEPA for many years and is himself a frequent guest at CEPA events. 

The course instructors and police experts from the 7 CEPA countries discussed and organised the future course for the 28th CEPA Main Course on Preventing and Combating Internationally Relevant Crime, which will take place in the CEPA countries in 2020. At the same time, the contents of this course were defined, which are entirely dedicated to the fight against organised crime. 

The CEPA Main Course will last 7 weeks and will accommodate a total of 26 participants. Participants will be sent from the 7 CEPA countries. The 7-week course will be held in all CEPA countries for one week. The last week will be organised by Hungary, where the ceremonial conclusion of the course will also be celebrated.

The course will be opened on 17 February 2020 in the Czech Republic in Prague and will just be finished on 03 April 2020 in Budapest 2019.

During the CEPA course, experts from the CEPA countries will present the latest trends and methods in the fight against organised crime to the participants. The focus will be on international and regional cooperation. The course will also focus on current forms of crime on the Internet and the associated strategies for combating them. The focus will be on the processing of the workshops, which will challenge the participants during the 7 weeks. At the end of the training, the participants will present their results on the workshop topics to an international audience of experts. The topics of the workshops are related to international police cooperation, which will be accompanied by a case study.  

CEPA seminar "Combating the internationally organized drug crime"

From 1.7.-5.7.2019 the CEPA seminar "Combating the internationally organized drug crime" took place in Böblingen / Baden-Württemberg. The seminar was chaired by EKHK Joachim Fischer from the State Criminal Police Office Baden-Württemberg and EKHK Jürgen Wörner from the Police University, Institute for Advanced Training. This year the team of speakers was strengthened for the first time by KHK Alexander Renz, who is to take over the leadership of the seminar in the future.

The participants consisted of 26 police and customs officers from the CEPA countries Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Germany. The registered participants from Slovakia had to cancel at short notice due to a tragic traffic accident.
 
A varied programme on the topics of "new psychoactive substances", investigations in Darknet, the use of covert investigators and financial investigations in drug proceedings awaited the participants. The participants also actively contributed their own presentations on complex investigative procedures in their countries of origin. The programme was rounded off by a lecture by the Federal Criminal Police Office on liaison officers and a presentation by a former head of department of the European Drug Monitoring Centre EMCDDA.

The accompanying programme offered was used extensively for the personal exchange of experience between colleagues from the member countries.

Tragic loss of a CEPA member

​Dear CEPA family members,

We have the painful duty to inform you that our friend and colleague, the long-time member of the CEPA family Tomas Gal, died on 28.06.2019 as a result of a tragic traffic accident. Tomas worked for the criminal police in Kosice, took part in several CEPA courses and seminars as a participant and lecturer.

We are stunned and sad because you left us too early. You will live with us in memory forever.
 
The national contact point of CEPA Slovakia on behalf of all friends and colleagues who knew Tomas personally.

CEPA Board of Trustees meeting in Budenheim/GER

​The Board of Trustees of the seven CEPA member countries met from 11 to 13 June at the annual Board of Trustees meeting to prepare CEPA's operational measures and activities for 2020. This event was organised by the National Liaison Office of CEPA in Germany through the Federal Criminal Police Office. The Board of Trustees is the preparatory and executive body of CEPA and implements the strategic guidelines of the CEPA Board of Directors. 

The meeting was opened by Mr. Heiko Braß, CEPA board member at the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany. On the first day of the conference, the CEPA training events from 2019 were summarized and evaluated on the basis of the available experiences and reports from CEPA courses and seminars.

The agenda of the two further meeting days included an intensive work programme, in which the activities for 2020 had to be planned and the mandates of the CEPA Board from 2018 had to be implemented. The contents to be developed for the individual CEPA courses at the course instructor meetings and the editorial measures to be taken at the CEPA online portal (www.mepa.net) were determined.  

In 2020, thirteen further training events will be offered on various criminal police and border police topics. The CEPA Main Course and the CEPA Special Course are offered within the Activities Catalogue 2020. Hospitations within the CEPA countries will also be possible in 2020.
 

CEPA organised a hospitation in Germany

​Due to transport thefts on railway installations in Austria that have a connection to a crime scene in Germany, an Austrian investigator visited the German police stations in Potsdam and Hamburg from 8 to 12 April 2019.

The visit served to intensify international cooperation and the exchange of experiences between the Austrian investigator and his German colleagues in this field of crime.

In Hamburg, a current case discussion was held, during which two separate perpetrator groups could be identified.

Through this observation it was possible to establish new important direct contacts in the OC fight against rail transport thefts between Austria and Germany.

CEPA seminar on the fight against street crime

​From 13 to 16 May 2019, a symposium took place in Bad Waltersdorf near Graz, Austria, at which the participants learned about the latest methods and strategies in the fight against international street crime in the course of a workshop. The CEPA has offered this topic for the first time in its training activities and a total of 29 participants could be won for this seminar.

The participants from 6 CEPA countries discussed and discussed the recruitment of police officers for this field and exchanged information on the training and further education of the emergency forces deployed in this field. At the same time, experts from the 6 countries from various emergency organisations gave expert lectures on the topics of operational tactics and operational strategies. 

The trends in this field clearly show that international perpetrator groups in the crime areas of robbery, pickpocketing and burglary as well as drug trafficking are well networked and organised in Europe. By developing "best practice models" at this workshop, an important step has been taken in the fight against international street crime in the CEPA countries.  

CEPA seminar on asset recovery from 14 to 17 May

​The CEPA Seminar on Asset Recovery took place from 14 to 17 May 2019 at the Headquarters for International Training in Budapest, Hungary. The 48 participants came from the seven CEPA countries.

 The weekly programme was carried out as planned with exciting lectures and an intensive round table discussion. The presentations dealt with the following topics: Asset protection, confiscation of assets of unclear origin, joint investigation teams, crypto currencies, Bitcoin, investigation proceedings and asset skimming.

The group also had the opportunity to get to know Hungary's history, social development and cultural background during a city tour.

Change on the CEPA Board of Trustees and CEPA Board of Directors

​The representation of the German Police University on the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors of CEPA has changed. New member is Mr. POR Carsten Twelmeier, since 02/2019 head of the staff unit III (International Cooperation) at the DHPol. Mr. Twelmeier can look back on many years of experience abroad, especially in the areas of police training and further education, and will be able to profitably contribute this to the work for the CEPA. Until a new DHPol Vice President is appointed, Mr. Twelmeier will also represent DHPol on the CEPA Board.

Mr Wagner has retired from the CEPA Board of Trustees as he has assumed other responsibilities.

First CEPA journal 2019 was published

​The CEPA journal 1/2019 was published on the topic "Current modi operandi of smuggling crime".

Printed copies are sent by the National Liaison Offices or the CEPA Central Coordination Office to police stations or police officers on request.