Europol
From SR
Roles
European Police Office (Europol) is the European Law Enforcement Organisation which aims at improving the effectiveness and co-operation of the competent authorities in the Member States in preventing and combating terrorism, unlawful drug trafficking and other serious forms of international organised crime.
Europol, in close co-operation with Member States, Candidate Countries and other law enforcement bodies, is actively involved in the fight against organised crime whilst maintaining full respect for individual integrity and human rights.
Europol supports the law enforcement activities of the Member States by:
- facilitating the exchange of information between Europol and Europol Liaison Officers (ELOs). These ELOs are seconded to Europol by the Member States as representatives of their national law enforcement agencies, thus they are not under the command of Europol and its Director as such. Furthermore, they act in accordance with their national law.
- providing operational analysis and support to Member States’ operations;
- providing expertise and technical support for investigations and operations carried out within the EU, under the supervision and the legal responsibility of the Member States;
- generating strategic reports (e.g. threat assessments) and crime analysis on the basis of information and intelligence supplied by Member States or gathered from other sources.
Europol supports the law enforcement activities of the Member States mainly against:
- illicit drug trafficking
- illicit immigration networks
- terrorist
- forgery of money (counterfeiting of the Euro) and other means of payment
- trafficking in human beings including child pornography
- illicit vehicle trafficking
- money-laundering
- In addition, other main priorities for Europol include crimes against persons, financial crime and cyber crime. All of these apply where an organised criminal structure is involved and two or more Member States are affected.
Background
In the modern world there are no boundaries for organised criminal groups. Because of current technology and access to huge illicit financial resources, these groups are illegally active worldwide. Therefore organised crime represents a threat to the structure and values of the democratic systems affecting European citizens’ security and freedom.
