HECTOR

HECTOR Project

The HECTOR project (eHancing protECTion of touristic sites in euRope) is a 24-month European research project funded through the European Union’s Internal Security Fund.

The project’s coordinator is the Hellenic Police in an expanded form of consortium (18 partners – 5 countries), with the participation of law enforcement authorities, research institutions, municipal authorities and tourism operators.

The HECTOR project aims to shield tourism infrastructure across Europe, emphasizing strengthening cooperation between the private and public sectors to define security standards, procedures and protocols (Security Model Plan for Tourism Industry).

The project implementation methodology is broken down into four main axes:

Security Planning:

Vulnerability assessments of tourist sites will be carried out – covering the entire spectrum of tourist activities – while the results will be used, taking into consideration past attacks, to evaluate threats in the security planning.

Physical security and technological solutions:

During the security planning, not only the physical protection of the premises will be evaluated, but also innovative technological solutions will be examined and implemented.

Awareness and Education:

In addition, the program aims to raise the awareness of citizens and tourists through a pan-European campaign. Furthermore, it specializes in joint training programs using modern technology such as virtual reality (VR) platforms and game-based scenarios (Gamification).

Interoperability and Collaboration:

Finally, the project will create a standard security model for tourist sites, providing procedures, recommendations, good practices, and guidelines. The model’s effectiveness will be tested through a cross-border exercise, evolving during different phases, critical events in five countries. The exercise scenario will essentially cause a theater of operations, with the development of critical incidents that require a high level of cooperation (private and public entities) and interoperability (between countries).

The project is a flagship initiative in protecting public spaces based on the relevant EU action plan. [COM(2017) 612 final], while innovatively incorporating the corresponding “good practices” of [SWD(2019) 140 final].

The methodology to be followed by the program has been inspired by the Commission’s European Counter-Terrorism Agenda, with risk assessments of tourist sites in the EU (anticipate), community involvement with a bottom-up approach (prevent), physical protection and a security planning-based approach (protect) and strengthening cooperation at all levels (respond).

Through this project, the first axis of the EU Security Union Strategy, a secure security environment for the future, is achieved, as tourism is an area of interest for every member state.

It is noted that the HECTOR project has been awarded for the year 2023 as “Best New Idea” at the Digital Awards of the YPSD in the “Citizen Security” category, highlighting the importance and impact of this specific action for our country and European cohesion.

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