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The federal constitutional system of the Federal Republic of Germany in principle gives the 16 states (Länder) the authority to maintain their own police forces, along with the right to pass legislation and exercise police powers. At the same time, however, the Basic Law provides for originary federal authority in central areas of law enforcement.

Law enforcement cooperation in the EU

Europol, the European Police Office, is a cornerstone of law enforcement within the European framework. It was created at German initiative as a central agency without executive powers for sharing law enforcement information and analysing crime. Europol went into operation on 1 July 1999.

Europol

The most important legal basis for its activities is the Europol Convention, which entered into force on 1 October 1998. Europol aims at improving police cooperation between the Member States in combating serious forms of international crime. To this end, Europol records and analyses Member States’ intelligence on organized cross-border crime. Europol facilitates information sharing between the Member States, informs them about specific connections between crimes, provides operational and strategic analyses and supports Member States in other areas of police cooperation, such as training and forensic research. The Europol Information System (EIS) is intended to record "hard" data of Member States on crimes and perpetrators with the aim of detecting possible links between investigations at the request of Member States. The EIS is currently being developed, and Europol is testing an initial version focusing on currency counterfeiting.
Europol has more than 300 staff members and approximately 60 liaison officers from all Member States, who work in liaison offices set up at Europol premises and ensure the exchange of information between the Member States’ law enforcement authorities by using their national police information systems.

European Police College (CEPOL)

With their decision of 22 December 2000, the EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers established the European Police College (CEPOL) following an initiative by Germany. CEPOL started its work on 1 January 2001. The Member States’ national training institutions (for Germany, the German Police University in Münster) cooperate within the framework of CEPOL to familiarize European police officers with the possibilities of international police and judicial cooperation in the transnational fight against crime. To this end, CEPOL holds advanced training seminars on cross-border crime for senior police officers of Member States, offers training materials for police training and organizes study visits to police offices abroad for police officers.
CEPOL is a network of national police academies. The European Council in Brussels designated Bramshill (UK) as its seat.
CEPOL is also open to senior police officers from EU candidate countries, giving them the opportunity to learn about the different cooperation provisions on combating crime adopted within the EU and Schengen frameworks.

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