4.6 Mission to Skopje Police with Poland and the Czech Republic, the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA) and the VoDos case management system. Mission representatives also accompanied the experts to Deve Bair Police Custom Co-operation Centre, where detailed information was shared about the centre’s daily activities in co-operating with the Bulgarian border police. From 21 to 23 September, the Mission organized a trilateral meeting in Belgrade, Serbia on the fight against organized crime groups involved in human trafficking. Law enforcement practitioners from Hungary and Serbia took part in the meeting and discussed the modus operandi of organized criminal groups involved in the smuggling of migrants, including existing forms of smuggling and necessary steps to strengthen regional co-operation, as well as possible intelligence sharing between the three countries. Counter-Terrorism & VERLT From 9 to 13 May, the Mission organized a training course on “Combating Internet and Social Media used by Terrorist Organizations” for 18 representatives from the Directorate for Security and Counter Intelligence and the State Intelligence Agency. The training course took place at the Police Training Centre in Skopje and was delivered by a consultant from Turkey. The aim of this course was to improve the knowledge and skills of the participants regarding the use of the Internet and social media by terrorist groups for recruitment and propaganda purposes. From 10 to 12 May, the Mission, in close co-operation with the Embassy of France, organized a workshop on Management, Command and Control in emergency situations. Twenty police officers from the Special Police Operations Department managerial staff, as well as other police units, took part. The workshop was facilitated by three high ranking officials in the French National Special Police Forces. The aim of the workshop was to share experiences and lessons learned from cases of terrorism. From 5 to 11 September, the Mission organized a training course on “Crisis Negotiations for First Responding Officers.” Thirty participants from the Special Police Unit and the Rapid Deployment Unit took part. Three members of the MoIA’s Negotiation Team delivered the training, which aimed to support the MoIA in strengthening its capacities to prevent, detect and suppress terrorist acts in line with the National Counter-Terrorism Strategy. 92 Trafficking in Human Beings & Migration-related Crime On 14 March, the Mission began a one-week advanced training course, in co-operation with the German Federal Police and the PTC, for local border police on detecting forged travel documents and certificates. The training course aimed to increase the participants’ operational awareness on the security features of regional passports and Schengen visas, as well as to enhance their skills regarding the use of modern forensic equipment. The training course was part of the Mission’s support to national institutions in the fight against trans-national threats and organized crime, with a particular focus on irregular migration and trafficking in human beings. On 7 June, a French police trainer, with the support of the Mission, delivered two separate training courses on facial recognition for staff based at the Tabanovce Border Crossing Point on the northern border. The objective of the training course was to increase the border police officers’ ability to detect impostors and prevent the illegal use of documents. The activity is expected to help increase the effectiveness of tackling cross-border criminality, in particular irregular migration and trafficking in human beings. The same training course was delivered on 12 July to nine police officers at the Bogorodica Border Crossing Point. On 23 August, five border police officers who serve at the Blace Border Crossing Point on the northern border also received this training. On 30 August, twenty Border Police Officers based at Skopje Airport took part in the same training course. From 14 to 16 September, the Mission, in co-operation with the French Embassy, organized a 3-day on-site training course entitled “Green border observation in mountainous areas” for the 16 staff working at the Regional Centre for Border Affairs-East. French police experts working in mountainous areas shared various skills, including map reading, positioning/orientation techniques, tracking, communication, first aid and rescue in mountainous areas. The training course aimed to enhance the ability of police officers to tackle cross-border criminality, including irregular migration, trafficking in human beings, narcotics smuggling and the proliferation of SALW. From 18 to 21 September, the same training course was delivered to sixteen staff members stationed in Ohrid at the Regional Centre for Border Affairs West. More than 70% of this border is mountainous, and it is used by smugglers and irregular migrants.