The Third Pilot testing of the PROTECTOR (Protecting places of worship from hate crime and terrorism) Project’s platform was delivered on the 31st of March 2023. The exercise took place in a hybrid form. The Pilot in Sofia was hosted by the European Institute Foundation (EI), and was supported by the leader of WP3 [Advanced technological tools to protect places of worship], and the leader of WP5 [Testing, Training & Strategy Development].
The Third Pilot included a short introductory presentation delivered by the Project Coordinator, and the WP5 leader, followed by presentations and live demo sessions on vision-based, web-based, and technical components of PROTECTOR Platform, as well as a detailed presentation on user authentication.
The general impression from the process of development of the PROTECTOR tools was rather positive. The LEA representatives have highlighted the usefulness of the tools and expressed their interest in adopting them and applying them in their work. A need for adapting the platform to the national contexts has been identified because of some cultural differences in terms of mentality and therefore behavioural patterns.
It has also been noticed that the feedback given after the previous pilot tests – in Antwerp and Trento, has been taken into consideration and incorporated into the platform so that it can best reflect the needs of the LEAs and other end-users.