This week, a group of Western Balkan practitioners completed a training journey that has taken them from basic, through advanced, to Training of Trainers level.

Delivered as a series of regional activities in cooperation with WB3C, the programme covered practical areas including OSINT, Dark Web investigations, cryptocurrency tracing and other investigative tools relevant to cyber-enabled crime.
The final Training of Trainers stage adds an important multiplier effect: participants are now better equipped not only to apply this knowledge in their own work, but also to transfer it further within their institutions.
The completion of the series therefore marks more than the end of a training cycle. It contributes to stronger and more sustainable national capacity across the Western Balkans.
Thank you to EU4FAST, CIVIPOL, the trainers and all participants who contributed to the full programme.
 

That question is at the heart of this week’s training at the WB3C, organised in cooperation with the Council of Europe and opened by H.E. Cécile Humbert-Bouvier, Ambassador of France to Montenegro, Liliana Trofim, Senior Project Office at the Council of Europe and Lejla Dervisagic, Head of CoE Office in Podgorica.
Participants from law enforcement, prosecution services and other relevant institutions are working with trainers Ronan Mouchoux and Jean-Pierre Bonnet on situations that public authorities increasingly face both online and offline: How to recognize when offensive or disturbing speech escalates into incitement to hatred, public disorder or criminal activity.
One point made by our Council of Europe colleague set the tone particularly well: the purpose is not to censor information or restrict legitimate expression. The challenge is to recognise when content and its context create consequences that may require institutions to act.
And when law enforcement intervention is required, the threshold matters just as much as the response itself. Any action must have a clear legal basis, be necessary in the circumstances and remain proportionate to the risk being addressed.
This makes the subject much more complex than simply identifying “harmful content”. It requires legal judgement, an understanding of context and potential impact, and close cooperation between investigators, prosecutors and other institutions responsible for protecting both public safety and fundamental rights.
For WB3C, this is where capacity building can make a difference by working through realistic scenarios, discussing difficult thresholds and helping practitioners make sound decisions when the answer is not immediately obvious.

This week, WB3C is hosting a Training of Trainers on cybercrime, organised in cooperation with EU4FAST and CIVIPOL.
Eleven police representatives and prosecutors from the Western Balkans are taking part, with a goal to strengthen their ability to pass the knowledge on through national-level training.
The programme is delivered by Cyril CORRIAS and Caterina Baglivi and covers the fundamentals and evolving landscape of cybercrime, cyber-related offences, OSINT, the Dark Web and cryptocurrencies.
The focus is not only on learning the subject matter, but on helping participants turn that knowledge into training they can use with colleagues in their own institutions.