Tweet31-10-2009 om 15:24 by Maastricht Region Branding Foundation

NeBeDeAgPol is the less than mellifluous acronym for the cooperative police organization that operates in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion and it is now celebrating its 40 years of existence. The celebration took the form of a two-day seminar in Eupen at the government building of the Belgium’s German-speaking community. The cross-border policing association is concerned with contacts between different nationalities, languages, states of mind and usage in the differing police services.

There is a population of around four million in the 10,700-km2 area of Meuse-Rhine and, as a result of the ending of border controls under the Schengen Agreement, there is an increase in risk of crime. For this reason it is extremely important that the police are able to cooperate.

In a study on the subject published in 2005, Professor Fijnaut revealed alarming news that none of the authorities in the three countries involved was able to combat crime in these areas on their own, which is why have now been working together for 40 years.

In the press conference preceding the seminar, the participants pointed out that an exchange of information was not only important for member regions but also for other regions too, and that for solutions in the areas of safety and security, new treaties were required. As Euroregional structures will develop in future, making cross-border policing more of a norm, a number of observers came to the meeting in Eupen, these included the Czech and Polish observers.

Better cooperation among regional police has been a success and there are mixed police groups in Meuse-Rhine. They meet once or twice a year. But there is an increased need for cooperation. There are Dutch-German agreements, but German-Belgian agreements leave something to be desired; and, clearly, this is an area in which police cooperation will continue to develop.

The seminar itself dealt with a wide range of topics; there was the work that dealt with the type of cross-border crime in Meuse-Rhine. This had been monitored by the police center for the region, EPICC. Their concern was burglaries of houses and the difference in the analysis of the events concerned. A second workshop dealt with intercultural competence, which is ‘a given’ in an area where three languages are spoken and as many as five different forms of legal jurisdiction exist.

There was also a comment from the Lake Constance area on cross-border cooperation between Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which varied from exchanges of officials to joint action on both sides of a border. A further topic dealt with was the police cooperation in the German-Danish area around Flensburg and Padborg.

Source: Meuse-Rhine Journal

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