April, 22, 2010

Article in German about the unsucessful launch of SIS II, "der Running Gag der EU". EuroCOP Spokesperson Jan Velleman is interviewed in the article.

Eine neue Fahndungssoftware soll Europa sicherer machen. Acht Jahre nach dem geplanten Start kann das Programm vor allem eins: abstürzen.

Die künftigen Anwender wollen das System längst nicht mehr. "SIS II führt ins Nirwana", sagt Jan Velleman vom europäischen Polizeiverband Eurocop. "Statt einer pragmatischen Anwendung hat man ein Riesenprojekt mit einer Riesenwunschliste aufgesetzt." SIS II müsse abgespeckt werden.

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February, 2, 2010

Article in German about the EU cooperation of the police and the problems and challenges police officers face when trying to exchange data and communicate information across the border. EuroCOP Spokesperson Jan Velleman is interviewed in the article.

Einen EU-weiten Schleuserring zerschlagen? Kein Problem: Der Ermittler loggt sich in die Polizei-Datenbank ein und erhält sofort alle Informationen. Im Krimi klappt das auf Knopfdruck. Um die Realität ging es beim Europäischen Polizeikongress in Berlin. 1600 Experten aus 60 Ländern beraten zwei Tage über die Zusammenarbeit auf EU-Ebene. tagesschau.de gibt einen Überblick über die Möglichkeiten und Risiken des polizeilichen Datenaustausches in Europa.

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December, 01, 2009

The protesters handed a petition to the government demanding no job cuts, no salary freeze and no reductions in social benefits. Tusk himself did not meet police representatives.

"It was a huge disappointment for my colleagues (that Tusk stayed away). We hope a meeting with the prime minister can be arranged in the near future," said Jan Velleman, a spokesman for the Luxembourg-based European Confederation of Police.

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February, 13, 2008

"It is not good to have a proliferation of databases without a clear vision (...)
The link between them is unclear and leads to gaps" also said Jan Velleman, a spokesman for Eurocop, a European police union.

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February, 13, 2008

Even police groups have raised concerns about the proposal, saying it could grate against concerns over privacy. "Fingerprints are a very good means to identify people, but the question is who will have access and for what purpose," says Jan Velleman, a spokesman for the European Confederation of Police. "Where there is data, there is a risk that it will be abused. We must not create impression that there is not an unchecked proliferation of databases."

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October, 2nd, 2005

The Commission believes that COSI should not have legislative tasks but is “not yet sure to what extent” it will cover judicial co-operation, the document shows.
Jan Velleman, spokesman for EuroCop, the umbrella group for police unions, said he suspected that the Commission's observations said “a good deal about bureaucratic politics” between the EU institutions.

“We would like to see an improvement in streamlining the vast number of bodies within the Council – where there are over 20 working groups dealing with operational co-operation,” he said. “We will have to see if the committee envisaged by the constitution is a useful thing or not.”

He agreed that there was a need for a “legal framework” to cover the exchange of information across the EU's internal borders. Bilateral deals on exchange of information between EU states and multilateral accords – such as those between the Benelux states – “are all kept separate from each other”, he added. “The result we see is that police officers don't know where they need to go if they need information.”

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