Evaluating Europol's mechanisms to increase law enforcement cooperation among member states in fighting organized crime since 2010

Abstract

With the establishing of the Schengen zone and the implementation of free movement with the zone, criminals have sought new criminal opportunities in a variety of regions within EU. These developments pushed the EU in 2010, to embrace the European Police Office (Europol) into its framework, as a countermeasure to the lack of mobility that member states’ law enforcement were plagued with. Thus, this study evaluates the mechanisms that Europol manages and promotes with the intention of increase law enforcement cooperation (LEC) in the fight against organized crime. Throughout the study, three issues of LEC are identified as obstacles that are recurring and have yet to be addressed effectively; and three of Europol’s mechanisms and their individual components are pitted against these recurring issues. Through this process, the research determines the effect of each mechanism on LEC, as well as, whether or not these mechanisms engage with the recurring issue they were matched with positively.