Campaign against the “11th European Police Congress“, 29th-30th of January 2008 in Berlin

Against a “Global Security Architecture”, for more security-critical behaviour!

In the recent months more information about the investigation methods of
security forces has been revealed: data storage, online searches,
so-called “textual analysis of political pamphlets“ (used in the
paragrpah 129a investigations against anti-G8 activists in Germany) and
so forth. Police and intelligence services want to attain unrestricted
access to personal data and internet user profiles. Internet providers
are now forced to save their data traffic long-term in order to relieve
the police databases.

The debate around the introduction of biometrical passports has
called into attention the fact that the industry has already
developed complex surveillance systems: Iris-scanning, RFID chips
(e.g. for supermarkets or on ID cards) or automatic facial recognition.
In the context of border control “privileged travellers” are
supposed to be able to cross borders “automatically”. The new “European
Agency for the operative cooperation in the field of management of
external borders” (FRONTEX) is in charge of assessing permanently the
risks and dangers at the borders of the EU, and to provide more
coordination and control. Technological armament is at the centre
of the agency’s policies.

Control, normalization and surveillance are certainly not a new
phenomenon. The retrenchment of social security in global capitalism
goes along with the gentrification of city centres, gated communities
with cameras, fences and security or video surveillance at
work. Next to the freedom of movement, the free use of internet
is increasingly restricted. Against unwanted social movements new
repressive measures are introduced.

With the support of police unions, criminal investigation police and
police hardliners, politicians of internal affairs want to create the
political and social conditions for the introduction of new security
technologies. These reforms are supposed to contribute to the
creation of a “global security architecture”, based on approaches of
the US Department of Homeland Security, whose mission is to foresee
dangers, to pre-empt and prevent them.

“Security” has already become a hotly contested market in the IT
sector. Dozens of suppliers compete about technical solutions in
order to make information available rapidly for involved authorities,
to encrypt communication via digital radio, or to develop software
for the harmonisation of different databases. This is the same kind of
software that is commercially traded, provided for example to
universities, administrative authorities or private users,adapted to the
operations of police and intelligence services. Thereby, differing
technical standards of various countries pose a problem to police
cooperation. At the next conference German police unions want to present
a call for the introduction of unified software.

The “European Police Congress” is a forum where politicians, police
authorities, intelligence services, the military and the security
industry meet to discuss the implementation of new measures for prosecution.

The annual congress has the character of a “security trade fair”. During
the first years technological innovation ranked high on the
agenda. Meanwhile, for the investigative authorities the question has
arisen of how to effectively process the immense amount of data they
collect. One answer is so-called “data mining”, a process where texts,
tapped conversations or video material can be searched for certain
keywords or expressions and attributed to certain persons. Several
providers are developing software that is supposed to enable the
mathematical calculation of the probability of future illegal
activities. The company SPSS described this procedure
during a presentation at the “European Police Congress” as “evolution
in the fight against crime… from reacting… to own initiative… to
prediction…”. This way, the first step of the “Homeland Security”
ideology is taken: the “prediction of threats”.

Also for the “prevention of threats” the “European Police Congress”
fulfils a function: creating a network of international police
departments that transcends already existing structures (the European
Police department EUROPOL, the Schengen Information system SIS). The
army is involved in the re-organisation of security policies. At home
and abroad armies are supposed to take on security tasks (“civil-
military cooperation”). For the “fight against international
terrorism”, for “border controls”, or for the “policing of big
events”, like international summits or sport events, new agencies,
institutes, working groups and research programmes have emerged.
Central topics are discrete intelligence gathering and intervention.
Connected to this are commando and control systems, access to
intelligence databases, ways of dealing with complaints against the
police, IT infrastructure, fences, “crowd management”, as well as
media and PR strategies.

Characteristic for these new police networks is that they
operate in obscurity. National and supranational police departments
delegate so-called “liaison officers” who negotiate crucial security
matters in closed-door meetings. The acquired knowledge
of how to control “security-critical behaviour” is exchanged
during regular conferences, workshops or seminars of police
academies. The goal is to develop international standards. The
international networking of security agencies transcends restrictive
political arrangements and takes place without any democratic control.

The “global security architecture” has a new quality. The focus on
“predicted risks” exposes every citizen to a general suspicion. This
poses a massive challenge for social movements. Therefore, we propose a
campaign against the “11th European Police Congress” in February 2008
in Berlin. The campaign has at first the following, rather general
goals:

• to protest against the architects of the “global security
  architecture” of neoliberalism
• to intervene in the discourse of threat scenarios that are
  designed to legitimize the new security measures
• to make informal structures of European police cooperation
  visible
• to create awareness about the new surveillance methods in the IT
  sector
• to scandalise the influence of the private sector in the “global
  security architecture”
• to enable more security-critical behaviour

The Police Congress 2008 has the motto “Information technology –
investigation – operation”. On Tuesday, the 29th of January,
Schäuble, the German Minister of Internal Affairs, will speak at the
“Forum of European Ministers of Internal Affairs”. Together with
other groups, we will organise a rally and
perhaps a demonstration on that day.

We want to reach broad segments of society and we think that the
“11th European Police Congress” is a potential extension of
already existing campaigns: against data storage, against
§129abc, Frontex, Oury Jalloh, antimilitarism, etc.

• Further Info about “European Police Congress”:
  http://gipfelsoli.org/Home/4223.html
• Official programme: http://www.europaeischer-polizeikongress.de

six hills