What is the difference between Europol and Interpol?

There are various possibilities for international law enforcement cooperation. Interpol and Europol are two of them. Interpol is an excellent network of police agencies of countries worldwide, whereas Europol mainly supports the fight against organized crime and there is no competition between these organizations.     In fact a cooperation agreement was signed between the two organizations. In fact a cooperation agreement was signed between the two organizations to help strengthen international law enforcement cooperation.

 3. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions and translate:

- organized criminal groups

- citizens’ security

- modern technology and enormous resources

- to represent a threat

- to handle criminal intelligence

- to make a significant contribution

- a multi-disciplinary agency

- regular police officers

- to overcome the language barriers

- international police cooperation

- information exchange

- border police

- to conduct investigation

- top level

- data security

4. Find in the text above the names of following crimes:

- незаконный оборот наркотиков

- отмывание денег

- незаконная торговля транспортными средствами

- незаконная миграция

- преступления против личности

- торговля людьми

- детская порнография

- подделка денег (фальшивомонетчество)

- контрабанда оружием

- компьютерная преступность

- кибер преступления.

5. Circle the odd ones out:

1. assassin      drug dealer  hit man  murderer

2. con man      robber        burglar  pickpocket

3. bribe           smuggle      charge     mug

4. proof             alibi            prison     fingerprint

5. shoplifter    hijacker      stalker    murder

6. stole            deceived    damaged    questioned

7. guilty          theft           fraud       manslaughter

6. Make the sentences from the following words:

1. Europol, that, organization, the, Union, is, handles, European, intelligence, law, enforcement, criminal.

2. Boundaries, no, nowadays, criminal, for, groups, organized, there are.

3. Powers, Europol, executive, has, no.

4. Police, barriers, the language, in, cooperation, international, to

overcome, Europol, helps.

5.  Europol, is, of, the mission, crime, and, serious, combat, international, and, organized, terrorism.

7. Mark the statements T (true) or А (false) using the text A and B:

1. Europol is the European Union law enforcement organization that handles criminal intelligence.

2. The main priorities for Europol include crimes against persons, financial crimes and cyber crimes.

3. Europol is a multi-disciplinary agency, comprising regular police officers and staff members from the various law enforcement agencies of the member states.

4. There are no differences between Interpol and Europol.

5. Europol helps to overcome the language barriers in international police cooperation.

8. Read and translate the following dialogue.

John: Hallo, Peter! How are you?

Peter: Hi, John! I haven’t seen you for ages!

John: Are you still working at the Europol department?

Peter: You are right. I’m a Special Agent.

John: Sounds great! And what does this organization deal with?

Peter: Europol’s aim is to improve the effectiveness and cooperation between the competent authorities of the member states. The workers of Europol are doing their best to prevent and combat international organized crimes such as illicit drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human trafficking and so on.

John: Oh, I see. You have such a challenging job!

Peter: Really. It also requires patience, honesty, intelligence and courage.

John: That’s true. It was nice to meet you. See you.

Peter: So long!

Make up your own dialogues and reproduce it.

Imagine that you are a police officer from Russia that visit an international seminar in Dallas on the problem of terrorism. Write a report about this problem and international organizations dealing with it.

Retell the text.

Text №2

 Translate the text and then answer the following questions:

1. What is organized crime?

2. What country has the biggest gangs?

3. What are Japanese gangsters called?

4. What do you know about AI Capone?

5. What is Mafia?

6. What criminal activities is the Mafia involved in?

Organized Crime

Organized Crime is the term used to describe illegal operations which are run like a big business. Crimes like this are carried out by criminals who work in gangs. There are gangs in every major country of the world. Many of the biggest gangs are in the USA. Some modern gangsters, like the Mafia, are involved in the illegal drugs trade. Japanese gangsters, called yakuza (meaning “good for nothing”), are also highly organized and very powerful.

    Probably the most famous time for gangsters was the Prohibition (запрещение продажи спиртных напитков, сухой закон) period in the USA. Between 1920 and 1933 alcoholic drinks were banned and gangs grew rich running illegal drinking dens. The best known prohibition gangster was AI Capone, who dominated organized crime in Chicago from 1925 to 1931.

   The Mafia is secret society which began in Sicily long ago. In the 20 century it spread to mainland Italy and to the USA, where many Italian Immigrants had settled. The mafia is involved in many criminal activities, including obtaining money from people using threats or force, selling illegal drugs, running illegal gambling operations, kidnapping and various acts of terrorism.

     The Mafia is organized into a network of «families». The Italian and US governments have put many suspected Mafia members on trial, but it is difficult to obtain evidence against them because Mafia members are sworn to secrecy. In recent years a number of senior Mafia members have agreed to give evidence against their former colleagues, resulting in several highly publicized trials.    

Supplementary reading

07 June 2012

Crime network behind hundreds of burglaries dismantled by French police

Operation supported by INTERPOL and Europol

An operation led by French law enforcement, and supported by INTERPOL and Europol, targeting a crime network of Georgian and Armenian nationals believed to be linked to more than 300 burglaries has resulted in the arrest of 21 individuals and the recovery of a substantial amount of gold and jewellery.

The network - structured over several levels, with burglars, team leaders and coordinated by at least one ‘thief-in-law,’ a criminal of high-ranking within the network who acts as a controller and regulator - is suspected of a series of residential and commercial thefts around Limoges, the north of France and Belgium, with the stolen goods sent to Belgium for selling on.

The investigation, led by France’s Central Office for Combating Itinerant Delinquency and the Gendarmerie of Limoges, was supported from the early stages by Europol specialists who facilitated the exchange of criminal intelligence, delivered analytical reports and supported the operation on the spot with a mobile office.

During the operational phase on June 4, INTERPOL provided onsite support assisting the identification of those arrested through on-site fingerprint scanning, provision of access to INTERPOL’s global databases and message exchange with its National Central Bureaus.

The number of arrests and seizures are provisional and likely to increase in the next few days as the operation continues.

Тема 21