The Exchange of Information between Police Organizations in the European Union: Tensions between the Rule of Law and Bureaucratic Autonomy
Hartmut Aden, Berlin School of Economics and Law
The exchange of information is a core element of the cooperation between European police organizations in the framework of the former EU “Third Pillar”, now integrated into the new EU framework by the Treaty of Lisbon. The exchange of information between police organizations has considerably grown in importance since modern computer technology has been introduced. In the EU framework, Europol and the Schengen co-operation include data bases facilitating the exchange of information, as well on investigation strategies as on individual cases. Complicated legal aid procedures for demanding information from other police organizations have been replaced by new online tools. The data exchanged by police organizations are often related to individuals. Therefore there is a permanent conflict between the information needed by police organizations on the one hand and human rights of the individuals concerned on the other. The paper will analyze, from a trans-disciplinary law, political and administrative science perspective, the EU law framework that has been introduced for the exchange of police information. It will show that there is a tension between regulation by law and bureaucratic autonomy in this field. As secrecy governs the exchange of information on criminal investigation, legal rules alone are generally unable to govern administrative practice in a way that adequately protects individual rights.