EU joint investigation teams: Political ambitions and police practices

Since 1997 there exists strong political will in the European Union (EU) to use Joint Investigation Teams (JITs) to foster police cooperation in criminal investigations. For most Member States the legal basis to establish JITs became available in 2004. However, as yet, only around 40 JITs have been established. This chapter investigates the gap between political ambition and police practice as regards to JITs. It explores the origins and practicalities of JITs; it questions their feasibility in the context of European policing and ex¬amines the perceived added value of JITs over ‘traditional’ methods of police cooperation. It argues that the JIT concept was copied from its original use on a domestic level in one of the Member States with little (if any) consideration of the practicalities of police cooperation on EU level. The chapter draws on original research undertaken using EU policy documents, field interviews and literature reviews.