EUROPOL: Coordinating the fight against serious and organised crime

Europol, the European Police Office responsible for coordinating the fight against serious and organised crime, began operations from its headquarters in The Hague in 1999. In January 2010 it will become an agency of the EU. The Council Decision bringing about this change in its constitution has made some amendments to its objects, powers, working methods and governance. Many of these changes are beneficial, so far as they go; but they do not go very far, and we believe this represents a missed opportunity. The raison d’être of Europol is the exchange of information for law enforcement purposes. It is a matter of particular concern that four fifths of the information exchanged by national liaison officers stationed at Europol is exchanged without actually going through Europol, and hence without being placed on Europol’s database and without being accessible to Member States other than those directly involved. The reason is a lack of trust: a reluctance on the part of Member States, especially at the early stages of an investigation, to share sensitive information with all Member States through the Europol channels. One way of improving this would be for Member States to station at Europol only officers and officials with the highest necessary security clearance.

Document: http://www.publications.parliament.uk