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'Data failures' hindering Europol European crime probes 'hampered'
(about 7 hours later)
The effectiveness of Europe-wide police agency Europol is being undermined by member countries' failure to share information properly, peers have said. Attempts to tackle serious organised crime across Europe are being hampered because police intelligence is not shared properly, a report has said.
The House of Lords EU committee says a lack of trust means officers share information informally, bypassing the agency database about 80% of the time. The Lords EU Committee said information was not being routinely passed to European police agency Europol by national police forces.
This means Europol's secure database is missing huge amounts of potentially useful information, says the committee. A lack of trust and fear of leaks meant information was often shared using informal links instead, they said.
EU countries are meant to share data on organised crime and terrorism. And IT problems meant the UK was unable to put data on a European computer.
The agency, staffed by a few officers each from the member countries and based in The Hague in the Netherlands, also helps co-ordinate complex investigations. Face-to-face exchanges
"But the Lords committee was astonished to discover that rather than exchanging details of crimes centrally the officers based in The Hague tended to do it more informally, face-to-face," says BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford. The report - Europol: Co-ordinating the Fight Against Serious and Organised Crime - said the situation should be addressed as a "matter of urgency".
Our correspondent said there was concern that police forces were not submitting enough information about counter-terrorism investigations to Europol. "This will be vital in ensuring that information on organised crime in the UK and across Europe is shared effectively between police forces," it stated.
The peers also want the agency's remit to be widened to include crimes including serial murder and rape. Europol was founded in 1992 to improve co-operation between the police forces of EU members on issues including terrorism, drug trafficking and serious fraud.
Europol was founded in 1992 to improve co-operation between the police forces of EU members. It is based in The Hague in the Netherlands and staffed by several officers from each of the EU member states.
But the peers' committee found that rather than exchanging details of crimes centrally, officers in The Hague tended to do it more informally face-to-face.
The peers want the agency's remit to be widened to include crimes including serial murder and rape.
'Lack of communication'
The report also criticised the the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), which has been operating since 2006, for weak links with police forces around the country.
The committee's chairman Lord Jopling said: "We were concerned that there seems to be a lack of communication between Soca and our national police forces.
"As Soca is the main body responsible for liaising with Europol, it is very important that they receive timely and accurate information on police investigations with an international element.
"Soca must take steps to ensure that this is the case."