International Police Cooperation Emerging Issues, Theory and Practice

The globalization of threats and the complexity of international security issues represent more than ever a challenge for international policing (re)shaping the configuration of inter-agency interaction. Police cooperation refers to the interaction in which two or more police entities (including private and public agencies) act together intentionally or non intentionally. Usually police cooperation gives the opportunity to pool financial, human, and material resources to reach goals that cannot be reached unilaterally. In essence, effective police cooperation addresses inter-agency competition and investigation overlap; in reality, collaboration between law enforcement agencies is plagued by competing agendas, limited resources, and nationalistic/discretionary intelligence sharing. While most studies focus on the reasons for the desirability of police cooperation as an approach to transnational crime, on the interactions between national police services, or on the challenges of the dem

The globalization of threats and the complexity of international security issues represents a greaterchallenge for international policing in (re)shaping inter-agency interaction, and makes effective international police cooperation more necessary than ever before. This book sets out to analyse the key emerging issues and theory and practice of international police cooperation.Paying special attention to the factors that have contributed to the effective working of police cooperation in practice and the problems that are encountered, this book brings together original research that examines opportunities and initiatives undertaken by agencies (practices and processes introduced) as well as the impact of external legal, political, and economical pressures. Contributors explore emerging initiatives and new challenges in several contexts at both national and international levels. They adopt a diversity of approaches and theoretical frameworks to reach a broader understanding of current and future issues in police cooperation. Forms of police cooperation and trends in crime control are examined, drawing upon the following disciplines: criminology, ethics, organizational science, political science, and sociology.

1. The nature and structure of international police cooperation: an introduction, Frédéric Lemieux 2. Police and judicial cooperation in Europe: bilateral versus multilateral cooperation, Laure Guille 3. Towards a governance model of police cooperation in Europe: the twist between networks and bureaucracies, Monica den Boer 4. A market-oriented explanation of the expansion of the role of Europol:filling the demand for criminal intelligence through entrepreneurialinitiatives, Nadia Gerspacher and Frédéric Lemieux 5. Iterative development of co-operation within an increasingly complex environment. Example of a Swiss regional analysis centre, Olivier Ribaux and Stéphane Birrer 6. The Meuse-Rhine Euroregion: a laboratory for police and judicial cooperation in the European Union, Cyrille Fijnaut and Toine Spapens 7. Convergent models of police cooperation in anti-organized crime and anti terrorism activities, Chantal Perras and Frédéric Lemieux 8. The France and Europol relationship: explaining shifts in cooperative behaviour, Nadia Gerspacher 9. Parallel paths and productive partners: the EU and US on counter-terrorism, John D. Occhipinti 10. Cross-strait police cooperation between Taiwan and China, Yungnane Yang and Frédéric Lemieux 11. Police cooperation in the context of peacebuilding: observations from African quarters, Elrena van der Spuy 12. Police-military cooperation in foreign interventions: Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands, Andrew Goldsmith and Vandra Harris 13. International police organizations: the missing link to cooperate effectively, Nadia Gerspacher and Veronique Pujas 14. Tackling transnational drug trafficking effectively: assessing theoutcomes of the drug enforcement administration's internationalcooperation initiatives, Frédéric Lemieux 15. Challenges of governance and accountability for transnational private policing, Les Johnston and Philip Stenning 16. The constabulary ethic reconsidered, James Sheptycki

Frederic Lemieux is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Police Science Programme at George Washington University.