Pending the revision of the Schengen Borders Code, the European Commission presented, on Wednesday 8 December, a legislative package aimed at strengthening police cooperation in the European Union and, in particular, at facilitating the organisation of joint patrols at internal borders. It is also a question of strengthening police access to certain databases and the exchange of information between law enforcement authorities in the Member States.
These proposals respond to the fact that criminal groups now operate on average “in at least three Member States”, stressed the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson.
In concrete terms, the Commission proposes three distinct tools. Firstly, a recommendation on operational police cooperation should reduce the use of internal border controls to some extent, through the establishment of “common standards for cooperation between police officers participating in joint patrols and acting on the territory of another Member State”.
A common list of crimes that can be prosecuted across borders is introduced in the recommendation.
Joint patrols to respond to secondary movements of irregular migrants are also envisaged.
“Unauthorised movements within the Schengen area, which are not linked to a major migration crisis nor to structural deficiencies in the management of the external borders, must be dealt with by means other than internal border controls”, the Commission justifies.
At the same time, it recognises that, although there are alternative tools for intervening in other Member States, there are sometimes too many of them and police officers can get lost in them.
“As a result, some operations such as pursuit of suspects across internal borders are not allowed or are carried out in an uncoordinated and sub-optimal manner”, the EU institution notes. It adds: “Operational cooperation using new technologies, such as drones, is also not sufficiently covered by the current rules”.
The recommendation therefore proposes to clarify and align the rules of engagement in cross-border operations and to allow police officers remote access to their own databases when operating outside their bases.
Targeted joint patrols and other joint operations in specific intra-EU border areas could also be organised to combat migrant smuggling or to detect illegally staying migrants, the Commission points out.
Link to the recommendation: https://bit.ly/3y5m8if
Revision of the ‘Prüm’ framework
The second tool the Commission is putting on the table is a revision of the ‘Prüm’ framework, which organises cross-border cooperation in the automated exchange of DNA, fingerprints and vehicle registration data.
A ‘Prüm II’ regulation will establish a central router to enable a police officer to find a match in other national databases more quickly.
In the event of a match following a request, Member States will have to share information identifying the suspect or convicted criminal within 24 hours.
Police officers will also now be able to share facial images of suspects and convicted criminals and police records in an automated manner, an approach that has already been criticised by the organisation EDRi.
The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) will also be able to take part in the ‘Prüm framework and will, among other things, be able to compare data from third countries with Member States’ databases.
However, the Commission has already warned that the regulation will take years to come into force, with an expected entry into force in 2027.
Link to ‘Prüm II’ proposals: https://bit.ly/331xdVU
Increased information exchange between national law enforcement authorities
A new directive on the information exchange between Member States law enforcement authorities will allow police officers in one Member State to access information held by their colleagues in another EU country under the same conditions.
“Member States should put in place a ‘Single Point of Contact’, operational 24/7, adequately staffed and acting as a ‘one-stop shop’ for information exchange with other EU countries.”, the Commission says.
The requested information should be made available within 8 hours for the most urgent cases, with a maximum of 7 days.
Link to the proposed directive: https://bit.ly/3dzcdb3 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)