International Police Cooperation: Emerging Issues, Theory and Practice

The globalization of threats and the complexity of international security issues represent more than ever a challenge for international policing (re)shaping the configuration of inter-agency interaction. Police cooperation refers to the interaction in which two or more police entities (including private and public agencies) act together intentionally or non intentionally. Usually police cooperation gives the opportunity to pool financial, human, and material resources to reach goals that cannot be reached unilaterally. In essence, effective police cooperation addresses inter-agency competition and investigation overlap; in reality, collaboration between law enforcement agencies is plagued by competing agendas, limited resources, and nationalistic/discretionary intelligence sharing. While most studies focus on the reasons for the desirability of police cooperation as an approach to transnational crime, on the interactions between national police services, or on the challenges of the democratization of the collaboration process and respect of human rights, International Police Cooperation pays special attention to the factors that have contributed to the effective working of police cooperation in practice and the problems that are encountered. This book brings together original research that examines opportunities and initiatives undertaken by agencies (practices and processes introduced) as well as the impact of external legal, political, and economical pressures. Contributors explore emerging initiatives and new challenges in several contexts at both national and international levels. They adopt a diversity of approaches and theoretical frameworks to reach a broader understanding of current and future issues in police cooperation. Forms of police cooperation and trends in crime control are examined, drawing upon the following disciplines: criminology, ethics, organizational science, political science, and sociology.