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The Law Enforcement Directive (EU) 2016/680 (LED) defines its basic principles, such as purpose limitation and data minimisation, differently than the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR). This contribution is exploring the influence of those differences on new policing methods, in particular on the big data policing. After describing the data protection regulatory framework for law enforcement authorities in the EU, we explain our understanding of the notion of big data policing. We then critically interpret the purpose limitation and the data minimisation principle in the GDPR and the LED, thereby busting some myths about the LED, created by other academics. Finally, we explore the boundaries of the abovementioned basic LED principles, in an attempt to measure their success in finding the delicate balance between the high level of personal data protection and the contemporary law enforcement needs.Keywords: data protection, Law Enforcement Directive, criminal justice, big data, purpose limitation, data minimization

Why is Big Data absent in the recent basic data protection documents of the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE)? Why not one single reference to Big Data practices - be it to regulate or to prohibit it - in the recent General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive (EU) 2016/680 and the Modernised CoE Convention 108 for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data (Convention 108+)? Some actors in the policy field considered Big Data too dan- gerous and counted on existing data protection principles to tame the beast. Others simply ignored the phenomenon or were not aware of the potential benefits of Big Data for economy and governments (the rendez-vous was missed). Our discussion of no less than six recent initiatives, - standalone laws and soft law instruments - is an indication that Europe is embracing Big Data but is seemingly hesitant to confront Big Data within the classical paradigm (field) of data protection law. Concrete guidance for Big Data practices is now spread over multiple texts emanating outside the data protection field.