On Friday 10 June in Luxembourg, the Council of the EU adopted two General approaches and a recommendation on operational police cooperation, which, among other things, set out the conditions for new joint police patrols, whereby police officers from one Member State are authorised to patrol the neighbouring border area to carry out police operations or pursuits.
This recommendation aims to prevent people “from escaping the police just because they cross the border”, the EU Council said in a statement.
“The limited availability of law enforcement officers that Member States can deploy abroad and the lack of coordinated deployment on the basis of prior common analysis may render the deployment of law enforcement agencies in other Member States ineffective. To simplify the administrative and logistical management of joint patrols and other joint operations, it is recommended that a pan-European support platform be established. Through such a support platform, Member States could exchange information about their needs and facilitate the deployment of joint patrols and other joint operations”, the recommendation explains. The aim is to “help deal with specific crime waves in specific places, times and situations”.
The Recommendation also calls on Member States to allow law enforcement officers from another Member State who are conducting a cross-border pursuit on their territory to carry their service weapons and ammunition and other service equipment or to use their service weapons in self-defence and in defence of others in accordance with the national law of the Member State concerned.
The Directive on the exchange of information between law enforcement authorities of the Member States will regulate the organisational and procedural aspects of the exchange of information and ensure equivalent access to information available in other Member States.
Links to the recommendation and General approaches: https://aeur.eu/f/224; https://aeur.eu/f/226; https://aeur.eu/f/228 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)