Barcelona will host a three-day multidisciplinary working session, with practical exercises to simulate risk scenarios in places of worship. Barcelona City Police will also be contributing with their experience and knowledge, as will the Barcelona Fire Service and other security and emergency corps.
The meetings start today and include talks, practical exercises and demonstrations. The practical exercises will test the simulation capacity of virtual reality software being developed to assess risks in emergency situations in places of worship.
To this end, a drill has been organised at the church of Sants Màrtirs Just i Pastor to represent he movements and behaviour of safety and emergency teams in a situation with multiple victims in a church and to put the IT tool into practice. The exercise will feature people in different roles, representing specific situations once the alarm is activated.
Some similar exercises were organised in Athens last month, but in the case of Barcelona the theory exercises are being backed up with the practical activity at the church. The next and final practical meeting will be in Rome.
Besides the City Police, the Barcelona Fire Service, the Mossos d’Esquadra police corps, the Medical Emergency Services (SEM) and the Centre de Urgències i Emergències Socials de Barcelona (CUESB) will also be taking part in the meetings.
In addition, the meetings will also be attended by representatives from the Greek police. The Public Service University of Bavaria, the European Islamic Association (Italy), the Metropolis of Glyfada orthodox community, the Salonica Jewish community and various companies that form part of the project. The Swedish police will also be taking part in the meetings to demonstrate their emergency management system to the rest of the participating stakeholders.
The SPIRIT project is a key European initiative to improve security in places of worship, in a climate of growing threats. SPIRIT is developing advanced tech solutions to protect these places, building innovation into risk assessment, tools for community policing and virtual training modules.
The project also has the goal of strengthening communication channels between religious communities and security forces. Through seminars, workshops and simulations, members of these groups have the chance to share their needs and concerns relating to security and to acquire the skills needed to take coordinated action before possible threats.