The Europol Platform for Experts (EPE) is a secure collaboration web platform for experts in a variety of law enforcement areas. It facilitates the sharing of best practices, documentation, innovation, knowledge and non-personal data on crime. This is the only Europol core system that does not support the exchange and storing of personal data and classified information. Users can interact and collaborate with each other via virtual communities. Each community comes with a set of tools for content management such as a blogs or forums, and communication, such as private or instant messaging.
By the end of 2015, 8140 users from 84 countries could interact and collaborate with each other in virtual communities. In 2015, approximately 2000 new users joined the EPE, which is an increase of 35% compared to 2014.
More than 190 liaison officers representing EU Member States and third countries are present at Europol to facilitate cooperation and information exchange between states and their national services and Europol.
The Secure Platform for Accre dite d Cybercrime Experts
2100 registered members – almost double compared to 2014: the Secure Platform for Accredited Cybercrime Experts allows specialists from a variety of law enforcement areas, the private sector and academia to share knowledge, expertise, best practices and non-personal data on cybercrime.
The Financial Crime Information Centre
1200 registered members: the Financial Crime Information Centre platform provides a support service to investigators and judicial authorities by collating information from various sources on financial crime that might be relevant for practitioners in their daily work. It focuses mainly on money laundering and asset recovery.
Intellectual Property Crime
600 registered members from academia, law enforcement and private industry: the purpose of this platform is to develop strategic analytical knowledge and best practices on intellectual property criminality and counterfeit products.
Simon was appointed head of the French Liaison Bureau on 1 September 2015. September was a very active period for the heads of law enforcement agencies in Europe but also other partner states, with the 2015 European Police Chiefs Convention (EPCC) plus operational meetings within the framework of operation Blue Amber action days.
Simon finds it challenging but extremely rewarding to work in an international environment on combating cross-border crime. For Simon, “Europol provides not only some of the finest tools to support criminal investigations (state-of-the-art databases, secure information exchange, strategic and operational analysis), but it is also a unique place where almost 200 liaison officers from 38 states are able to connect in a minute to deal with serious and organised crime.”
The Paris attacks on 13 November 2015 intensified France’s cooperation with Europol on counter terrorism matters. The excellent flexibility of the agency was demonstrated by setting up the Emergency Response Team less than two hours after the terrorist attacks, and providing great live support to the French and Belgium investigations. “This has also shown that Member States stand united when facing a common threat. All countries have provided fast and accurate support to handle the terrorist attacks. The use of Europol’s tools, such as SIENA to enable the international exchange of data, reached an unprecedented level,” says Simon. In general, the use of Europol’s resources is constantly increasing. France opened 3000 new cases at Europol in 2015 and exchanged a total of 42 000 messages. This growing trend is also seen among other EU Member States and cooperation partners.
Simon notices that “Europol is not only an agency which provides the state-of-the-art analysis capabilities and information and intelligence sharing tools. It is also a place where a united Europe becomes a reality. I would like to underline the numerous signs of solidarity and support coming from colleagues representing various states and also from Europol officers. This leads me to the conclusion that Europol is about a mind-set: a wish to effectively cooperate against terrorism and serious and organised crime and a wish to stand united against the multiple and increasingly complex threats to our internal security.”
Meet Eric, the FBI’s first permanent liaison officer to Europol. Over the last decade, Eric has developed expertise in creating and managing public-private partnerships focusing on disrupting and dismantling numerous cybercriminal organisations responsible for sophisticated cyber attacks against the US and EU Member States. Eric reported for duty at Europol in May 2015 and will be assigned here for at least three years. While Eric was initially assigned to work within the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT), he has worked hard to broaden the FBI’s presence in both the counter terrorism and organised crime units.
“With the arrival of FBI Director James Comey, the FBI has looked at ways to better leverage multi-lateral relationships in intelligence dissemination, case, coordination and de-confliction,” says Eric. He believes that Europol provides the perfect platform for this: “Having worked in an active public- private sharing environment over the last decade, I greatly appreciate the positive sharing environment that Europol has established. The dedication and team atmosphere here is terrific.”
Eric points to the recent Darkode cybercriminal forum takedown this past summer as a great example. “Darkode was an FBI led investigation that had members located across the globe. Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre provided a critical platform that assisted the FBI in analysing and developing target packages, hosting multiple coordination meetings as well as establishing the primary command post to track the global law enforcement effort on the takedown action day.”
Aside from his normal work duties, Eric has also been busy coordinating the recent visits to Europol by both the US Attorney General Loretta Lynch as well as FBI Director James Comey.
