Three Countries

With this declaration of intent, the partners (National Police, Limburg unit, Royal Marechaussee, Belgian Integrated Police, Federal Police North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia) take a first step towards the further development of a coordinated and future-proof Euregional police operation.

Cooperation

The Euregional Police Alliance was established to ensure sustainable and structural cooperation between the police services of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. The alliance aims for continuous alignment, improvement, and connection of the daily Euregional police operation across borders. In practice, this means coordinating planned and unplanned actions, joint action against cross-border crime, improving information exchange, and strengthening mutual trust.

Picture

A common picture of Euregional safety forms the basis. Only when we share the same reality – from trends and threats to concrete modus operandi – can we act together purposefully and effectively.

“The border is literally and figuratively in our way. In terms of powers and exchanging information. We must find ways to cooperate more and better. That is what this Police Alliance is for. To ensure that the barriers we currently have no longer hinder us and help criminals, but rather the opposite.” Jan van Loosbroek, police chief Limburg unit

Treaties

This cooperation builds on existing treaties and frameworks, such as the Benelux Treaty on Cross-Border Police Cooperation, the Enschede Treaty, and the treaty between Belgium and Germany on cooperation between police services and customs administrations in border areas, which will be replaced in the future by the German-Belgian police treaty.

Euregio

In Limburg, borders are the most normal thing in the world. Due to the free movement of people and goods, people often work, live, shop, and recreate in Belgium and Germany, and vice versa. Limburg is an important logistics hotspot, squeezed between two different countries. This means Limburg borders the Netherlands for only about 30% and has many border crossings.

Borders

Limburg has a hinterland where about 22 million people live and work. With our 351 kilometers of external borders, we face criminals who do not respect national borders. This makes international cooperation a must, especially if we want to effectively combat players high on the crime ladder. The Euregional Police Alliance focuses on:

  • the territory of the province of Limburg in the Netherlands;
  • the territory of the arrondissements Eupen, Limburg, and Liège in Belgium;
  • the territory of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (Aachen, Heinsberg, Euskirchen, Düren) and the Euregio Rhine-Meuse-North (Viersen, Kleve, Mönchengladbach, Krefeld, Neuss, Düsseldorf) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Daily Police Work

The Euregio has been confronted for decades with a serious, growing security threat. This includes, among other things, often international forms of (drug-related) undermining crime, money laundering, property crime, human smuggling, human trafficking, juvenile crime, digital (cyber)crime, and also social unrest and risks regarding the integrity of the international logistics chains in which Limburg is an essential link.

Borders

Crime and threats do not stop at national borders. Due to changes in mobility, digitization, migration, geopolitical tensions, and organized crime, security problems increasingly cross borders. Police officers in border areas work closely together daily during patrols, border surveillance, enforcement, controls, pursuits, and criminal investigations. Good coordination and alignment of this daily police work is essential for the safety of citizens and police colleagues in the Euregio.