Europol platform for experts : secure web platform for specialists in a variety of law enforcement areas.
Date: 2013-12-10
Institutions: Europol
Subjects: Europol, computer crime, fight against crime, information system

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For further information please contact your Europol  
National Unit (law enforcement authorities in the EU 
Member States) or Europol.

EUROPOL
Business Product Management
CDBPM@europol.europa.eu

Eisenhowerlaan 73
2517 KK The Hague
The Netherlands

PO Box 90850
2509 LW The Hague
The Netherlands

www.europol.europa.eu
www.facebook.com/europol
twitter.com/europol_eu
www.youtube.com/europoltube

How can you join an expert 
community? 

To join an online expert community, you need to be invited by a 
platform manager. There are multiple ways to request this invit-
ation. One option is to approach platform managers directly, for 
instance during an expert meeting. You can also contact your 
Europol National Unit. Alternatively, you can send an email to 
the  Business  Product  Manager  (CDBPM@europol.europa.eu). 
Please send this email from your individual professional email 
account,  specify  which  is  the  main  online  community  you  are 
interested in and describe your area of expertise.

How to open a new online 
expert community on the 
EPE? 

You will need a sponsor at Europol who can support your field 
of expertise. Please send an email to the Business Product Man-
ager (CDBPM@europol.europa.eu).

interested in facilitating an 
online expert community? 

Do you have experience with communities of practice, blogging 
or forum moderation, and are you an expert in one of the fields 
on the EPE? Are you are keen to get the best from these online 
communities?  WE  NEED  YOU!  Please  contact  the  Business 
Product  Manager  (CDBPM@europol.europa.eu)  to  find  out 
how you could be involved.

Europol  
Platform  
for Experts

Secure web platform for specialists in  
a variety of law enforcement areas

Within the framework of EU law enforcement 
cooperation Europol supports the EU Member 
States  in  preventing  and  combating  all  forms 
of serious international crime and terrorism by 
means  of  information  exchange,  operational 
and  strategic  analysis,  expertise  and  opera-
tional support. 

its 

The  combination  of  its  legal  framework,  its 
analysis  capacity  and 
liaison  network,  
representing  all  Member  States  and  a  wide 
range  of  cooperation  partners,  enables  Euro-
pol  to  deliver  a  unique  added  value  to  inter-
national  law  enforcement  cooperation.  The 
main goal of Europol is to help achieve a safer 
Europe for the benefit of all citizens.

What 
is the 
Europol 
Platform 
for 
Experts?

What can 
the EPE 
do for 
you?

The  Europol  Platform  for  Experts  (EPE)  is 
a  secure  web  platform  for  specialists  in  a 
variety  of  law  enforcement  areas,  enabling 
them to share knowledge, best practices and 
non-personal data on crime.

The EPE hosts a broad variety of online expert 
communities  dedicated  to  specific  fields  of 
law  enforcement.  Its  purpose  is  to  assemble 
a wide range of know-how, expertise and in-
formation in order to create a powerful envir-
onment for online collaboration. 

The  EPE  offers  several  benefits  for  expert 
communities:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 
• 

 an arena for problem solving and obtaining 
quick answers to questions;
 reduced  time  and  costs  for  information 
searching;
 the possibility to coordinate and find syn-
ergies within a community of experts;
 an  opportunity  to  expand  your  profes-
sional  network,  enhancing  your  profes-
sional reputation;
 a forum for broadening skills and expertise;
 swifter international cooperation.

“The EPE is a fabulous tool. It provides us with an 
opportunity to share knowledge and experience 
(in our case on non-traditional ways of working 
and the value of adopting multidisciplinary ap-
proaches  to  combat  organised  crime)  in  a  safe 
and secure environment and on a regular basis. 

We cannot meet colleagues across the EU face to face very often 
to discuss matters of mutual interest so the EPE provides an ex-
cellent, modern alternative to keep us in touch and connected.”

Tony Waldron, National Crime Agency (UK), Community Manager of 

the “EPE Administrative Approaches to Tackling Organised Crime”

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Who’s in 
your  
expert 
com-
munity?

Which 
areas are 
covered?

Access to a specific online expert community 
is  granted,  by  invitation  only,  to  authorised 
users who are experts in a field of competence 
relevant to that community.

Depending on the expert community, author-
ised  users  range  from  closed  groups  of  law 
enforcement  officials  to  large  informal  net-
works of contacts including non-law enforce-
ment  officials,  experts  from  academia  and 
the  private  sector.  Our  online  communities 
gather experts from the European Union and 
beyond.

The  EPE  currently  hosts  more  than  30  plat-
forms  covering  a  wide  range  of  law  enforce-
ment areas

motor vehicle crime

ATLAS

witness protection

crime intelligence analysis

cybercrime

forgery of money

payment card fraud

violent extremism

financial crime

kidnapping & extortion

counter- 
terrorism

ISLE

child sexual exploitation

environmental crime

intellectual  
property crime

environmental scanning and early warning

crime scene investigation

EMPACT

anti-corruption

PCCCs

gangs

fugitive active search

information management

administrative approaches

informant handling

covert surveillance

open source intelligence

prüm

law enforcement technologies

What 
function-
alities are 
available?

The EPE offers a set of generic functions that 
are customised according to the needs of each 
online expert community. 

The current core functionalities include:

• 

• 

 the  Library  where  all  kinds  of  files  (docu-
ments,  pictures,  videos)  can  be  uploaded 
and shared within your expert community 

 the  Message  Forum  where  users  can  ask 
questions  and  discuss  issues  with  other 
members of the community. The forum can 
be  organised  into  different  categories  and 
allows  other  members  of  the  expert  com-
munity to interact via comments

 •   the  Blog  where  users  publish  news,  pro-
mote events and/or announce changes to an 
expert community. It is also an ideal tool for 
sharing opinions on specific topics

• 

• 

 the  Calendar  where  users  can  schedule 
events,  meetings  or  other  relevant  dates 
within a community

 the Wiki where users build together a know-
ledge  base  within  their  expert  community. 
The wiki is often used to build and maintain 
up  to  date  information  on  the  situation  of 
countries or units participating in a working 
group or another initiative supported by the 
online community.

In  addition,  the  EPE  offers  the  possibility  to 
send  private  messages  as  well  as  an  instant 
messaging service. Users are able to see which 
members of their expert community are online 
and can therefore quickly interact with them.