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Cross-border police cooperation
Article Security
Ensuring security at home also requires action beyond Germany’s borders. That is why cross-border police cooperation is so important.
Cooperation between the German security authorities and their foreign counterparts takes many forms and is based on a variety of agreements.
Bilateral police agreements and joint centres
Germany has signed bilateral agreements with all its neighbours on cross-border police cooperation. Above all, these agreements govern
- cross-border police measures such as surveillance, controlled deliveries and hot pursuit;
- joint police operations, in particular joint patrols;
- information-sharing;
- cross-border personnel support; and
- work at the joint centres for police and customs cooperation.
At these joint centres, the police and customs authorities of the partner countries work together in mixed international teams under one roof on the basis of mutual trust. In Germany, the Federal Police, the relevant state police and Customs are usually represented at the joint centres.
They share information and experience on all matters related to the shared border area. This makes it easier to coordinate cross-border operations, for example by identifying additional contact persons in the neighbouring country. And language is no barrier, as the officers working at the joint centres can speak the language of both partner countries.
Prüm Treaty: Easier cross-border cooperation
On 27 May 2005, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Austria signed the Prüm Treaty in Prüm, a city in the Eifel region of south-western Germany.
The Treaty governs
- the automated exchange of DNA data, fingerprint data and information from motor vehicle registers, as well as the necessary data protection;
- information-sharing on terrorist threats and hooligans;
- various forms of operational police cooperation, such as joint patrols and police assistance in case of major events and disasters.
The automated exchange of data saves the law enforcement authorities a great deal of time, thereby significantly increasing their efficiency.
The Prüm Treaty is an international treaty which was originally concluded outside the framework of EU law. The EU’s Prüm Council Decision entered into force on 26 August 2008. This decision incorporated the substance of the Prüm Treaty into the legal framework of the European Union.
Europol
Europol, an EU agency with its own legal personality and headquarters in The Hague, significantly assists cooperation between the police and law enforcement agencies of the EU member states.
refer to: Website of Europol (Opens new window)
Source: EUROPOL
Europol is intended to support and reinforce the work of the responsible authorities in the member states and their cooperation in preventing and fighting serious crime affecting two or more member states; terrorism; and types of crime which harm Union interests.
To that end, Europol stores and analyses information from the member states, making it easier for them to share information. Consulting their databases can reveal connections between investigations carried out in individual member states.
Using what are known as analysis projects, Europol can clarify connections between crimes and provide operational and strategic analyses for the member states. To do so, Europol uses the latest technology and employs the best-trained experts in the field.
Europol also helps the member states in other areas of police cooperation, for example by participating in joint investigative teams, coordinating joint action days, offering advanced training and conducting criminal science research.
The Europol Regulation, which entered into force on 1 May 2017, further strengthens Europol’s capabilities and competences while improving data protection.
International cooperation through Interpol
Police cooperation to fight crime is needed even beyond Europe's borders. The International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, with headquarters in Lyon, France, ensures that its 196 member countries around the world can share general law enforcement and case-related information on all areas of crime rapidly and securely.
refer to: Website of Interpol (Opens new window)
Interpol provides a secure global information and communications network and keeps criminal records and databases. It also provides additional support by
- producing situation reports as well as strategic and operational crime analyses;
- publishing notices of missing and wanted persons and stolen goods;
- making available expertise on specific types of crime; and
- offering basic and advanced training.
The officials who work at Interpol’s General Secretariat have no authority to conduct law enforcement measures. Which law enforcement measures officers in the member countries may conduct is determined by their national law.
Assistance with police training and equipment
Police training and equipment assistance is another way to fight crime and terrorism effectively. Such assistance is intended to help the security authorities in the countries where criminal and terrorist organizations are based and those through which they operate deal more effectively with organized crime and international terrorism.
Assistance is also intended to promote the rule of law in the field of public security and order and to create a democratic framework in these countries, because such democratic structures and the rule of law are not always strongly rooted or effective elsewhere in the world.
This assistance is based on the principle of sustainability, ensuring that only those measures and projects which pursue the aim of permanent, effective crime-fighting receive support.
