The article presents considerations related to future directions of Interpol’s development, that is one of the criticalinstitutions of the global security system. Development directions are determined before all by Member States’ assessmentof effectiveness and legality of Interpol’s operational activities. However, in comparison to the practical cooperationof police forces vast improvement is required in relations to legal sphere of Interpol. There is no doubt that the effectivenessof the Interpol. The organisation operating in transnational dimension has to possess a proper legal status. Interpol,in the opinion of some experts in the field of international law, does not have the optimal legal solutions and the appropriateratio for the national law of the Member States. The weakest point of Interpol is outdated and ineffective legal basis foraction. For this reason, the sine qua non conditio for the further development of Interpol is to provide the organisation withspecific legal position, which would be proper to the uniqueness of tasks that are being carried out (including the adoptionof appropriate solutions for the privileges and immunity of Interpol and its staff in a uniform manner in all the MemberStates). There is also a need to harmonize internal normative acts of the organization — including the Constitution of Interpoland the General Regulations, the interpretation of which causes a lot of confusion regarding the legal status and the natureof membership in Interpol.
The article concerns the effectiveness of sources of operational activities undertaken by one of the key institutions of the EU security system. Europol has been present in policing for over 15 years, but is still relatively unknown. The agency carries out tasks related to the prevention of cross-border threats, such as organized crime, terrorism and other forms of serious crime and related criminal offences. Europol’s operational activities are based mainly on criminal intelligence processes, including the collection, processing (analysis, evaluation, interpretation) and the exchange of information. In recent years there have been many changes in the activities of Europol. The most important occurred on 1 January 2010, when the legal framework of Europol was fundamentally transformed, which was a consequence of the change in its legal status. The change was important because the effectiveness of Europol in operating in a transnational dimension, particularly with regard to cooperation with other subjects of international law involved in fighting cross-border threats, depends on the possession of the appropriate legal status.The multiplicity of factors (such as political, legal, organizational) that shape the operational capacities of Europol means that they are one of the most debated aspects of the functioning of the institution. Reflections on the effectiveness of this institution are bold, if one takes into account that the evaluation of the effectiveness of the police formation is always a challenge for researchers. It should be noted that the discussion about the effectiveness of Europol’s operational activity alone may affect the accuracy of the final assessment of the agency.
Since the establishment of the Task Force many operations involving countries in the region have been performed. A multidisciplinary approach was introduced in terms of the operations in order to better utilise financial and personnel resources as well as to improve results of operations. Usually operations have provided useful information (for example on modus operandi). A few of the operations have been conducted specifically with the objective of gathering information – operation General Aviation is one example of this. Operation Early Bird, a bilateral operation between Poland and Germany, was a direct result of the information from operation General Aviation. The Task Force has the potential of making the operations unpredictable to the criminals as far as time, location and geographical area are concerned. However over the years it has not become clear if the Task-Force cooperation is valuable and efficient. In the beginning the mere fact of being able to carry out joint operations in the region, i.e. all countries doing the same thing at the same time, was a very good and important result in itself. The expectations and demands adressed to the co-operation have increased, and now external evaluations is needed. The presented issue is extremely complex due to the specific nature of the activities carried out on BALTCOM platform and its unique position in the international system of cooperation. Article draws the attention to possible benefits from such forms of international cooperation in combating crime.
Identification of the crucial problems of one of the critical institutions of the global security system which has been an element present in police cooperation for over 90 years is not an easy task. The multitude of factors (e.g. political, legal and organisational etc) that shape options for Interpol action makes the identification and assessment of such problems very controversial. The development of international police cooperation within the framework of Interpol was carried out in a logical way and closely linked to the real needs of the police of cooperating countries. Through long-term practice, specific mechanisms and instruments for organising and coordinating international police action have been developed. Certainly the presence of Interpol does not solve all the needs that may be encountered in the practice of police cooperation, but without Interpol, the cooperation discussed could develop only at a regional level, which would considerably reduce the effectiveness of the international search for suspects and criminal information exchange. Police actions undertaken within the framework of Interpol, which is a mechanism of multilateral cooperation, in a natural way can only serve as supportive and complementary to operations in the fight against crime that are carried out in the internal dimension of Member States or as part of bilateral agreements. To such operations Interpol provides coordinating assistance, expert knowledge and scientific or analytical support. At the current stage of development of the legal situation and international relations there is no place for any further Interpol function that might prove effective in practice. Assessing the activities of a well-deserved international organisation, it should be pointed out that there is an undeniable need for Interpol’s existence. Interpol is perceived by the international community as an instrument that can be used only against cross-border criminal threats. Consequently, as an organisation that has operated for decades in terms of a clearly defined role, Interpol has the ability to integrate organisational tasks against these.
Artykuł jest próbą usystematyzowania działań operacyjnych podejmowanych w ramach Interpolu w celu przeciwdziałania przestępczości transgranicznej. Artykuł zwraca uwagę na ewentualne korzyści płynące z takich form międzynarodowej współpracy w zwalczaniu przestępczości. Nie ma wątpliwości, że skuteczność działań operacyjnych w ramach Interpolu warunkowana jest jego statusem prawnym. Interpol, zdaniem niektórych ekspertów w dziedzinie prawa międzynarodowego, nie ma optymalnych podstaw prawnych do działania z odpowiednim przełożeniem na prawo krajowe państw członkowskich. Z tego powodu warunkiem koniecznym do dalszego rozwoju Interpolu jest zapewnienie organizacji określonej pozycji prawnej, która byłaby właściwa dla wyjątkowości prowadzonych w jej ramach działań operacyjnych (w tym uregulowanie przywilejów i immunitetu Interpolu oraz jego przedstawicieli w sposób jednolity we wszystkich państwach członkowskich). Istnieje również potrzeba harmonizacji wewnętrznych aktów normatywnych organizacji — w tym Statutu Interpolu i regulaminu ogólnego, których interpretacja powoduje wiele kontrowersji. Ważne jest uzupełnienie Statutu Interpolu o przepisy prawne dotyczące stosunków z podmiotami zewnętrznymi. Interpol powinien mieć również wyraźne uprawnienia do zawierania umów z państwami członkowskimi w sprawie siedziby oraz lokalnych przywilejów i immunitetów. Niewątpliwie Europol, będący młodszą platformą wielostronnej współpracy policyjnej, z prawnego punktu widzenia uzyskał istotną przewagę nad Interpolem, którą jest jasna sytuacja prawna. Prezentowany problem jest niezwykle złożony ze względu na specyfikę działań prowadzonych przez Interpol i jego wyjątkową pozycję w systemie instytucjonalnym społeczności międzynarodowej.
Artykuł dotyczy taktyczno-kryminalistycznych aspektów działania Europejskiego Centrum ds. Walki z Cyberprzestępczością. W materiale zaprezentowano teoretyczny model tych działań ze wskazaniem przykładów wykorzystania w praktyce wsparcia EC3 przez służby policyjne państw członkowskich UE.
The article touches upon the problem of the estimation of tangible crime costs. The considerations are based on the authors’ professional experience as well as on Polish and foreign literary resources. The focal point of the analysis is the assumption that lack of knowledge on the tangible crime costs impedes identification of adequate priorities in fighting threats, securing suitable funds and finally examining how effectively the resources are used to ensure public safety. The study focuses on the strategic dimension of crime costs examination. The authors indicate the elements which support the idea to recognize crime cost analysis as a particular form of strategic crime analysis. They also characterize the subject matter and purpose of the research, their relation to the strategic counter-crime actions, character of conclusions and specifics of the applied methodology. The indication under consideration is of an innovative nature and may result in the necessity to verify theoretical assumptions of strategic crime analysis. It could especially serve as an incentive to a different approach towards the Polish analytical contribution to the Europol OCTA (Organized Crime Threat Assessment) annual report. To some extent, the described indication gives a chance to stimulate the work on the OCTA report. In general, the article points out how the research on crime costs functions in decision-making processes connected with crime prevention and in what way they influence public safety. As a result, the paper proves the necessity to estimate the total amount and structure of public and individual costs connected with preventing and fighting crime in Poland. The presented suppositions make it possible to develop strategic analysis as a tool to diagnose the existing strategic situation and to determine guidelines for future counter-crime actions, including those in cooperation with Europol and European Union member states.
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