Bullseye expert symposium WP2 (Leuven, 25-26 January 2023)

On January 26th, the Bullseye project organised an expert symposium in Leuven, in cooperation with Consortium member the Belgian Federal Police.

The objective of the project is to enable a better preparation of the emergency services and the first responders who could be involved in a terrorist attack with chemical or biological substances according to two axes:

  • Harmonization of procedures for first responders in case of a chemical and/or biological terrorist attack
  • Prevention: extension of training center for explosive detection dogs

And it was precisely that training of explosive detection dogs that formed the focus of the expert symposium.

The day started with two keynote speakers to give food for thought to the experts present. They respectively gave a presentation on “how to develop, apply and evaluate innovative scent detection technologies?”, and provided the attendees with more information on “explosive detection dogs detecting chemical precursors and/or chemical threats”.  

The programme continued with various impressive demonstrations of explosive detection dogs in real-life situations: detection of parcel bombs, baggage analysis, identification of individuals carrying explosives, etc.  The demonstrations took place in the stands of the OHL football stadium.

The project wishes to thank the Belgian Federal Police for the organization of the expert symposium.

If you have questions regarding the symposium, or if you would like further information, please contact the coordinating team on bullseye@nccn.fgov.be

Fourth Project Steering Group Meeting (Rajecke Teplice, 3-4 November 2022)

November 3-4th, the fourth Project Steering Group meeting took place in Rajecke Teplice, Slovakia.

During the meeting, the Project Steering Group took the time to look back at the past year and evaluate the project’s activities and milestones that have been realised. The timeline for the coming months has been defined and confirmed, and the project is ready to take its last steps heading to a successful end.

The Steering Group wants to express its thanks to ISEMI for hosting the meeting for us.

Bullseye Cross-Sectoral Exercise (Vught, 20-22 September 2022)

From 20 to 22 September, the Bullseye cross-sectoral exercise took place in Vught, the Netherlands, on the premises of Consortium Member Defense CBRN Center Vught.

After improving the Bullseye harmonised procedures during and after the mono-trainings, the final cross-sectoral exercise was organised.

In this context, first-, second- and third-line responders gathered at the National Training Centre CBRN in Vught, to test all the Bullseye harmonised procedures and to ascertain whether they are interoperable. The exercise aimed to verify a smooth sequence of the interventions executed by the different lines.

The programme

On the first day, a first multi-disciplinary exercise was organised based on a scenario that was very similar to the one used during the mono-trainings. Each intervention was followed by a short feedback session to evaluate the execution and the implementation of the procedures. This intensive first day concluded with an informal networking moment.

The second day, a second cross-sectoral exercise took place. However, this time the participating first responders did not know what to expect, as it involved a completely new, unknown scenario: a drone attack in a metro station with a chemical/radioactive agent causing multiple injuries and deaths.

During the final day, both exercises were discussed and the procedures were evaluated once more by all project partners, allowing to modify the procedures, if deemed necessary. The purpose of this debriefing was to establish and validate a final set of procedures for all three lines of first responders.

A valuable exercise
Overall, the participating practitioners were very enthusiastic about the course of the exercises. The cross-sectoral character of the exercise allowed the practitioners to test the interoperability and coherence of the procedures and to finetune coordination and communication, which was considered extremely valuable. Furthermore, the international dimension offered practitioners the opportunity to discover new or different tools that were used in the other countries.

The project wants to thank the Consortium partner DCBRNC Vught for the organisation of the excerises.

What’s next?
Based on the exercise and ex-post evaluation, some adjustments are currently being made to the final set of harmonised procedures.

As a final step in the Bullseye project, a Train-the-Trainer toolkit will be developed containing the finalised harmonised procedures, best practices and other useful tools. This toolkit will be presented to all EU member states, giving the opportunity to be implemented by other member states as well.

More information about this will follow soon!

Bullseye mono-training 5 (Bratislava, 6-8 September 2022)

The final Bullseye mono-training took place from 6 to 8 September 2022 in Bratislava, Slovakia. The specialised police unit of the Lynx Command in cooperation with ISEMI conducted the exercise to test the second-line harmonised Bullseye procedures.

If you have questions regarding the mono-trainings, or if you would like further information, please contact the coordinating team on bullseye@nccn.fgov.be

The feedback and observations of all practitioners and experts that were present during the mono-trainings will be gathered and used to improve the harmonised procedures. We look forward to the next phase of the project, where these improvements will be tested during a cross-sectoral exercise.

Bullseye mono-training 4 (Warsaw, 4-6 September 2022)

From 4 to 6 September 2022, the fourth Bullseye mono-training took place in Warsaw, Poland. Here, the harmonised procedures for the first-line first responders were tested by the Polish police forces.

Additionally, a very interesting demonstration was given of detection instruments, unknown package investigation, and on-site decision support.

If you have questions regarding the mono-trainings, or if you would like further information, please contact the coordinating team on bullseye@nccn.fgov.be

Bullseye mono-training 3 (Vught, 28-30 June 2022)

From 28 to 30 June 2022, practitioners from the first- and second-line first responders were welcomed at the Defence CBRN Centre in Vught, the Netherlands, for the third Bullseye mono-training.

Fire fighters, specialised fire fighters (hazmat), and the CBRN Response Unit came together to test the Bullseye harmonised procedures, with a very successful exercise as a result.

If you have questions regarding the mono-trainings, or if you would like further information, please contact the coordinating team on bullseye@nccn.fgov.be

Bullseye mono-training 2 (Neerhespen, 20-22 June 2022)

From June 20th – 22th 2022, the second Bullseye mono-training took place in Neerhespen, Belgium at the dog training centre of the Belgian Federal Police (DACH). The harmonised procedures for third-line first responders were tested by the participating capabilities of CSI, DVI, and DJT, resulting in a fruitful exercise with the Federal Police and Civil Protection of Belgium.

If you have questions regarding the mono-trainings, or if you would like further information, please contact the coordinating team on bullseye@nccn.fgov.be

Bullseye mono-training 1 (Madrid, 1-4 June 2022)

From 1 to 4 June 2022, the first mono-training for the Bullseye project took place in Madrid, Spain on the premises of INTA. Here, the harmonised procedures for the second-line first responders were tested by the emergency medical services and CBRN-specialised medical services from SUMMA 112.

The participating first responders were able to give their feedback on the procedures that they carried out, while CBRN-experts gave valuable insights from their experiences.

We look forward to continuing this process during the following mono-trainings and subsequential cross-sectoral exercise.

If you have questions regarding the mono-trainings, or if you would like further information, please contact the coordinating team on bullseye@nccn.fgov.be