2007 EuroCOP Spring Committee Oslo

EuroCOP Spring Committee

(Oslo, March 12-13th 2007)

EuroCOP Committee urges Spanish government to withdraw disciplinary actions

Signing a resolution on the situation in the Guardia Civil and making preparations for the upcoming congress. Those were the main topics of the EuroCOP Spring Committee which took place in Oslo on March 12-13^th.

Spring EuroCOP Committee Oslo: Family Picture Time.

EuroCOP Committee approves resolution on the Guardia Civil

A resolution urging the Spanish government to withdraw all disciplinary proceedings against the Guardia Civil representatives and improve the situation in the Guardia Civil was passed unanimously at the EuroCOP Committee Meeting in Oslo. The resolution said that these “kind of sanctions would not solve anything and can only worsen the situation and have unforeseeable consequences.”

All delegates of the EuroCOP Committee condemned the suspension of 20 leaders of AUGC including its Secretary General, José Miquel Perpinyá. Perpinyá, who was not able to attend, thanked the Committee Delegates for their support in a written statement. The suspensions were the Spanish government’s reaction to the Guardia Civil demonstration which took place on January 20^th, 2007. About 13,000 Civil Guards attended the legally authorized demonstration, some 3,000 of them in full uniform, which was the official reason for the suspension.

Mauricio Moja of Spanish Fespol addressed the Committee on Perpinyá’s behalf. “It is a very complicated situation we have here. The fact that some showed up in uniform was a shock for the government and the Spanish people.” Several members of the Committee showed their support to AUGC during the meeting, including German GdP, Finnish SPJL, Portuguese SINAPOL and Catalan SPC. “For the Guardia Civil to demonstrate in uniform, knowing what it represents, it means they have reached the limit of what they can take, said Angéls Bosch of SPC Catalunya. “We have to show them our support to point out the discrimination these leaders have suffered.”

EuroCOP President Heinz Kiefer and Vice President Peter Ibsen were very happy to see the unanimous support. “EuroCOP will approach the necessary European Institutions with this resolution such as the Commission, Parliament and ETUC,“ Vice President Peter Ibsen concluded the discussion.

Right after the EuroCOP Committee meeting some changes took place in Spain. The Spanish government adopted two major reform bills for the Guardia Civil: the right to professional association and reforms of the disciplinary system.


EuroCOP Committee approves Guardia Civil Resolution.	Mauricio Moja, Fespol, spoke on AUGC’s behalf.

Norway knows how to finds its place in Europe

Terje Moland Pedersen, Secretary of State of Norwegian Ministry of Justice
and the Police.

Just because Norway isn’t a part of the EU does not mean that it does not want to be involved in police cooperation across borders.

This was pointed out by the first guest speaker, Terje Moland Pedersen, Secretary of State of Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police.

“Our values and principles are the same and therefore we have the same ways of fighting crime. Even if we are not in the EU we have to look at the security issue and Europe and we also need to find an easier way of cooperating than we have today.”

According to Moland Pedersen the Police has to constantly work on new ways of improving its cooperation, through legislation and improvement of the technologies used, as well as informing one another on national matters.

“We all stand together in Europe when it comes to police cooperation. And Norway wants to be a part of this.”

Police violence a serious issue


German, Swiss and Italian Police Union Delegates.	Orlando Bernardi, ASAPPEM Monaco.

Current issues on the European agenda unfortunately also involved police violence. EuroCOP President Heinz Kiefer reminded the Committee of the past incidents, including a police being killed in the aftermaths of a football game in Sicily and over 40 police officers getting injured in Germany.

“We are again facing the issue of how police violence during sporting events should be dealt with,” Heinz Kiefer said. He also pointed out that it is not only during sporting events the police have to suffer from violent acts towards them, something the Danish and Norwegian police have had to handle lately,facing violent activists.

Chairman of German GdP, Konrad Freiberg said that the matter needs to be solved jointly. “I believe we ought to sit down on a European level and dwell on why these young people attack the police officers and why we see this kind of violence during football matches – we have yet to identify the right solution.”

President of the Norwegian Police Union, Arne Johannessen agreed. “These are very important remarks and it is necessary that we work politically together in Europe. Young people attack the police all the time and we have to develop our work in order to stop this, on a political level as well, not only on a police level.”

The Nordic Police Unions have met to discuss this matter in particular, Peer Withagen of the Danish Police Union said. “This is a problem that has to be taken seriously. In the Nordic countries we try to activate our politicians. It's a serious crime attacking police officers. We have also agreed to activate the fanclubs to make them exclude violent members. One discussion has been about setting up some sort of a hooligan register. “

Orlando Bernardi from the Monaco’s Police Union said that they have already come to terms with the problems in their country. “For a small country it’s possible and we haven’t really had any problems. Nobody would like to commit an offence like this in Monaco because we are quite tough if you do”.

Even though EuroCOP has taken on this subject before, a project was presented in the brochure “Violence against Police Officers is Violence against Society” in 2003, the President Heinz Kiefer promised that EuroCOP would continue this work. “We will commit to these issues again and see to that it is not forgotten on an European level. The conclusions that we made together in 2003 are still very current and relevant.”

Private investigators entitled to police rights?

Should private investigators be allowed to enjoy a similar status as police officers? Major differences exist in Europe how private investigators are looked upon, something which has been concerning Nordiska (the Nordic Police Unions) who brought this question forward through Arne Johannessen, PF Norway.

“We want EuroCOP to put this issue on the agenda. EuroCOP needs to look into the use of private investigators, their possibility to be used in criminal proceedings and how big the differences between different European countries are.”

Peer Withagen, Politiförbundet in Denmark explained the situation further, saying that the proposed scenario in his country would be that private investigators would carry on with an investigation which the police would have determined insoluble, having access to all of the police documents.

This would mean, Withagen said, that wealthy people could buy themselves into police services.

“If we want to have equal treatment this should not be possible,” he concluded. The Committee agreed that access to criminal justice in particular must not be subject to affluence.

Arne Johannessen explains Nordiska
view on private investigators.

Frequent meetings help settle dispute for Norwegian Police

The key to solve issues between the state employer and the police union is to meet on a frequent basis, even informally. This according to the second outside speaker, Ingelen Killengreen, National Police Commissioner and thereby the highest ranking police officer in Norway.

“The employers and Police Chiefs have to cooperate in order for the unions to reach acceptable results.
This means that our leaders have to be mature. We also have to find the time to negotiate. We have to use the roads that we have in a way that improves our cooperation.”

Killengreen, representing the employer side, addressed her counteract, Arne Johannessen, directly: “It is not that we always disagree on everything. We just know what we disagree on.”

Ingelen Killengreen, National Police Commissioner in Norway.

The key to resolve issues early on is to meet on a frequent basis, Killengreen said. “Arne and I meet once a month during an informal meeting to discuss matters. The earlier we start to discuss things that might become a problem the easier it is to solve the problem and less prestige is lost. But that doesn’t mean that Arne goes back and does exactly what I have told him, if he did he would be a bad union president… We simply inform each other about situations arising – it could be a local matter I haven’t heard about.”

EuroCOP President Heinz Kiefer pointed out that common practise in this area might vary. “The cooperation does not always work like this in other European countries.My experience is that many times it is not the case at all.”

Women’s Conference wants more power

Women Representatives in Oslo discuss future motions.

Increasing the meeting frequency and the number of representatives, plus a vote during Committee meetings. These for some of the planned motions for congress that Lillemor Melin Sving, the new Chairwoman of the Women’s Conference and one of three Women Representatives at the EuroCOP Committee put forward.

“For now we are three representatives from four regions, we believe it would be more logical to be four. We would also like to be able to meet twice a year, instead of only once a year, which is the situation now,” Melin Sving said.

At present the Women Representatives don't have a vote at the Committee, another thing they would like to change. And a theme proposal was presented for the Spring EuroCOP Committee: “Women in The Police”.

EuroCOP President Heinz Kiefer was positive about the progress. “I am happy about the activities of our women, even if there were some difficulties to find the time to meet in 2006. We have a great opportunity during the EuroCOP Committee to listen and discuss female issues.”

Congress Action Plan: A Social Europe for the Police – A Safer Europe for All

Draft of Future Face of Organisation presented
by the Executive Committee.

EuroCOP President Heinz Kiefer.

A Social Europe for the Police is just one of the four most important goals for EuroCOP for the upcoming four years. This according to the first draft of the new Action Plan that EuroCOP President Heinz Kiefer presented to the EuroCOP Committee. Other goals are Internal Security in the European Union, Solidarity and Network building and Safety for the Police.

Member organisations were reminded that May 14^th is the deadline for motions and nominations to Congress and their chance to have a say in what the future face of the organisation will look like.

Congress will be held at the ETUC building in Brussels. The EuroCOP Executive Committee, together with the two Belgian Police Unions, SLFP and SNPS, have been looking into social activities for the congress participants.

The Committee was also informed of the Executive Committee’s intention to publish a special “Congress Magazine”, a flashy, magazine style of publication, for Congress. This magazine will serve a form of “year book” or “Reference book” and present each member organisation on one page including a short interview with the president (with photo), a story about the member organisation, police photographs and basic facts on the member organisation.

The Committee and its members were asked for assistance concerning this Congress Magazine and Member Organisations will be contacted with further details in the next weeks.

Spring EuroCOP Committee Oslo 2007.