CARABINIERI

The course of action taken has been directed principally towards the intensification in the exchange of information regarding emergent criminality, identification of the best operating procedures, the spread of investigative experience with maximum effectiveness as well as research into the proposal to make national legislation homogeneous. Officers of the Force are involved in G8 Groups, "Terrorism Experts" and "Di Lione" - subgroup "Law Enforcement", in working groups as required by the Schengen Agreement for the development of "Acquis Communautaire" as well as in all the police cooperation activities of the Justice and Internal Affairs Third Pillar of the European Union. The Force is directly involved in the European Police Department, Europol, whose international branch is studying emergent crime as a priority, and is presently setting up a system for the exchange of data between the investigative structures of each individual member state.
In this important sector Officers of the Carabinieri are employed as experts in the AWF (Analysis Work File) concerned with organized crime, illegal immigration from Eastern European countries and terrorism. The Carabinieri Special Operations Group has recently activated, on behalf of Europol, an Operating Project between member states, MSOP (Member State Operational Project) to develop international cooperation against organized crime involving the illegal trafficking of human beings. This procedure permits the exchange, in real time, of useful investigative data from other European member states and in countries which have applied to become members, and the ability to share operating strategies. The original concept anticipated the realization of a joint team investigative squad made up of personnel from Europol and national police forces for the development of investigations against crime organizations active in European countries.
Europol has a Carabinieri Officer attached to the Italian desk, two Carabinieri Officers at the Analysis Department and a Carabinieri Officer attached to the anti-terrorist cell, SC5, at the Serious Crimes Department.
Carabinieri are also on duty in Liaison Offices in Bar, Montenegro and Tirana, Albania, whilst other Officers are employed as anti-drug experts in Bolivia, Columbia, Morocco, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Hungary and Pakistan. Interpol Liaison Offices have been activated and assigned to officers of the Carabinieri Force in Peking, China; Sophia, Bulgaria; Athens, Greece; and Canberra, Australia.

The contribution of the Carabinieri in the bi-annual meetings of the European "Police Chief Task Force" has been significant and attended by the Carabinieri Commander General and the Chief of Police. They have also participated in the Police Cooperation and Terrorism Groups, as well as in the many meetings on different subjects instigated by Community organizations to promote the exchange of knowledge, experience and cooperation between police organizations of the individual States.
The professionalism and integrity of the Force has been formerly recognized by the European Union Commission through its "PHARE" Programmes designed to evaluate factors concerning candidate countries entering the EU. These factors include such fundamental sectors as control of borders, organization of the Police Force, the fight against environmental organized crime and illegal recycling and corruption. As such, a senior Officer of the Carabinieri has been assigned to the group of experts with the task of examining and verifying the institutional structure of Lithuania and Latvia at the Schengen contents.
The Carabinieri Force also participates in international cooperation through OIPC, (International Organization of Crime Police - Interpol) by attaching personnel to the Police International Cooperation Service reporting to the Department of Public Security - Head Office of the Crime Unit, as well as attached to the General Secretariat. The Service is made up of 5 Divisions, the 2nd and the 3rd represents, in particular, the Italian structure of Interpol.
Finally, an Officer of the Carabinieri is assigned to OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office) as Assigned National Expert in the prevention and fight against Euro counterfeiting. Even though this cooperation was in compliance with the First Pillar, European Union Directives, and not the Third Pillar, European Justice and Internal Affairs, it still permitted the Force to provide the European member countries with its considerable experience acquired in its own specialized field.
Cooperation in the ENFSI (European National Forensic Science Institute's Work Groups) is particularly noteworthy. The Carabinieri Scientific Investigation Department compete with other European forensic institutes in research and experimentation for the most modern techniques in scientific investigation.