Brussels, 04/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The first European Police Chiefs Convention, held in The Hague under the aegis of the agency Europol, closed on Friday 1st July, with the agency for European police cooperation having set down its priorities. These include the need to develop more innovative methods of action to fight organised crime and terrorism, according to a press release issued by the agency. More than 300 police chiefs from the EU, representatives of the law, the competent European commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, and several researchers took part in the convention. The conclusions on the fight against terrorism stressed the need for the prevention of radicalisation, covering all players (police, justice, social services, schools, etc), the harmonisation and interconnection of information databases, a duty to report all terrorist acts recorded in the member states and the strengthening of Europol's capabilities and margin for manoeuvre.
On organised crime, the conclusions stressed the need for a more innovative approach, by means of administrative and preventative measures, and the reinforcement of measures to freeze the assets of criminal groups (a directive on this subject is expected in 2011). Another point raised was the need to move closer to the European citizens and to use social networking sites to create an “information community” with internet users, to help the police in their activities, the agency stresses. (S.P./transl.fl)