EUROPOL: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Europol (the name is a contraction of European Police Office) is the European Union's criminal intelligence agency. Europol became fully operational on July 1, 1999.

The establishment of Europol was agreed to in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. The agency started limited operations on January 3, 1994, as the Europol Drugs Unit (EDU). In 1998 the Europol Convention was ratified by all the member states and came into force in October.

Europol allocates its resources (around 130 staff and 45 liaison officers) from its headquarters in The Hague. The size of Europol belies the fact that they are in constant liaison with hundreds of different law enforcement organisations, each with their own individual or group seconded to assist Europol's activities.

Functions

Europol's aim is to improve the effectiveness and co-operation between the competent authorities of the member states in preventing and combating serious international organised crime. Its mission is to make a significant contribution to the European Union's law enforcement efforts targeting organised crime.

Europol has no executive powers. It is a support service for the law enforcement agencies of the EU member states. This means that Europol officials are not entitled to conduct investigations in the member states or to arrest suspects. In providing support, Europol with its tools – information exchange, intelligence analysis, expertise and training – can contribute to the executive measures carried out by the relevant national authorities.

Europol is a multi-disciplinary agency, comprising not only regular police officers but staff members from the member states' various law enforcement agencies: customs, immigration services, border and financial police, etc. Secondly, Europol helps to overcome the language barriers in international police co-operation. Any law enforcement officer from a member state can address a request to their Europol National Unit (ENU) in her/his mother tongue and receive the answer back in this language.

Three different levels of co-operation are possible: The first one is technical co-operation or to provide training. The next step is strategic co-operation aimed at exchanging general trends in organised crime and how to fight it and the exchange of threat assessments. The top level of co-operation includes the exchange of personal data and requires the fulfilment of Europol's standards in the field of data protection and data security.

Europol's Director is appointed by the unanimous decision of the Council of the European Union. The current incumbent is Jürgen Storbeck of Germany. He is assisted by Deputy Directors Mariano Simancas (Spain), Jens Højberg (Denmark), and Kevin O'Connell (United Kingdom.