Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol, carries out an official visit to the Czech Republic

On 2 July 2018, Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol, accompanied by Europol’s Deputy Director Oldřich Martinů visited the Czech Republic and met with high-level members of the Czech government, the Czech Police and the General Customs Directorate.

The working meeting was opened by a formal lunch with the Minister of the Interior Jan Hamáček and the Police President Major General Tomáš Tuhý. The main issues discussed were the current security situation in the Czech Republic and the need to strengthen the already good cooperation between the Czech Republic and Europol, to support common objectives and to send liaison officers and other experts to Europol.

"The Police of the Czech Republic welcome the use of information and data analysed by Europol and offer to share good practice in the area of the most up-to-date communication tools and methods proved to be useful when detecting crime," the Police President said. He further highlighted that "the Police of the Czech Republic are fully ready to strengthen their representation at Europol, not only by providing Europol with national experts and liaison officers, but also with professional analytical and other specialised members of staff."

The delegation together with the Police President visited the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic where the meeting continued in the presence of all three deputies of the Police President. Ms De Bolle became acquainted with the structure of the Police of the Czech Republic and with the strategy used when solving migration crises and other security threats. A visit to the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic Operations Command Centre followed and it was supplemented with a presentation on its functions and organisation. The Executive Director also met staff from the International Police Cooperation Division of the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic. On this occasion, she had the opportunity to greet and thank the police officers who cooperate closely with other countries within Europol for their work in person.

The General Customs Directorate represented the last stop of the official visit and Ms De Bolle met there with the General Director Milan Poulíček. The main topic of discussion was the assessment of the liaison officer position of the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic stationed in The Hague.

"I fully support cooperation with the General Customs Directorate and their representative at Europol. The Police of the Czech Republic and the General Directorate of Customs must also cooperate directly when an international issue is being discussed," the Police President, Tomáš Tuhý, added.