The Guardia Civil trains the Senegalese Police in anti-terrorism techniques

Several Senegalese Police and Gendarmerie units travelled to Logroño to receive training in the prevention of terrorist attacks within the framework of the CT Public Spaces project. ‘The Guardia Civil has valuable experience  preventing terrorist attacks in public spaces, which can be of enormous value to other countries. The CT Public Spaces project is committed to sharing this knowledge and experience with other parts of the world where security management at events with a large influx of members of the public is a challenge’, said Colonel Javier Hernández, the director of CT Public Spaces.  

During the training, the Guardia Civil’s Rural Action Unit shared its expertise in protecting public spaces with members of the Senegalese security forces who are being trained in Logroño in May. 

‘Projects of this type can save many lives and are necessary after the tragic events that have occurred around the world, such as Nairobi (2019), Manchester (2017) and Berlin (2016)”, explained Isabel de la Vega, coordinator of the project at FIIAPP. The activity in Logroño is part of a specific training programme covering the protection of public spaces for police forces in the project’s partner countries: Senegal, Ghana and Kenya. The training techniques taught included the use of dogs to detect explosives, attack and defend, for rescue and tactical response, the use and detection of drones, first aid, civilian evacuation and tactical patrols. For these training sessions, which take place in Spain and in the three countries in Africa, specialists from the Spanish Guardia Civil Rural Action Unit (RAU) and from the European Union High Risk Security Network (EUHRSN) shared their knowledge and expertise. The latter is the European Union network created within the EU action plan to protect public spaces, which brings together different police units from the member states. 

CT Public Spaces is a project implemented by the Guardia Civil, managed by FIIAPP and financed by the European Union with the aim of preventing and reducing possible terrorist attacks and their impact on public spaces (major events, high-traffic spaces and infrastructure targets including airports and stations) in partner countries. This objective is in line with the European Union Action Plan for the protection of public spaces 2017 and the European Security Strategy 2020, based on the premise that security is a determining factor for sustainable development.