Police cooperation against transnational criminals

This chapter focuses on cross-border law enforcement in the light of international, regional and bilateral legal frameworks. To explain the terminology employed: international frameworks are those that concern a community beyond an established region, such as the UN legislation concerning transnational crime and cooperation or the Council of Europe Conventions (as they go beyond the borders of the European Union (EU)). Regional frameworks are those covering a broad, but legally defined, union of states, where the focus will be on the fight against transnational criminals in the EU. Bilateral and multilateral frameworks are those developed in small regions, such as the Benelux or the Nordic Countries Cooperation, in which very advanced police cooperation mechanisms have developed due to a long common political and cultural history.1 The first three parts of the chapter give examples of cooperation enforcement practice under the three different types of frameworks. The last part looks critically at some case studies and specific problem areas.