Director General of the Police Senad Jušić participated at the European Police Chiefs Convention (EPCC) in The Hague on 24 and 25 September 2024.

The meeting of police chiefs from the EU and Schengen member states, customs chiefs and representatives of Europol, the European Commission and other EU agencies was hosted by Europol and Hungary as the holder of the current presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Police chiefs and other high-level guests discussed the issues of online frauds, drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and the impacts of hybrid threats, cyber-attacks and fake information on policing. They also discussed legal data access and the challenges of encrypted data on several levels.

Director General of the Slovenian police underlined that the legality of data access is one of the main challenges for law enforcement authorities. Criminals are taking advantage of the full range of possibilities available by the new technologies. In response the authorities too must be allowed to carry out their fundamental mission of protecting the citizens while fully respecting the fundamental rights in the digital environment.

Jušić held several bilateral meetings at the margins of the conference. He met with Aleksandar Janev, the Director of the North Macedonian police, who thanked Slovenian police for their assistance in rescuing people and property during the July 2024 fires and for the establishment and reorganisation of security agencies and authorities and for the cooperation in the scope of Frontex in North Macedonia. The Directors also talked about financial crime and further options to accelerate cooperation in this field. Jušić noted that police cooperation between the friendly countries is traditionally excellent and stressed that Slovenia is always willing to provide all the necessary assistance.

Director General also met with Dragan Vasiljević, the Acting Director of Serbian police. They talked about the possibilities for closer cooperation in prevention and detection of irregular migration. They agreed that current police cooperation is good and can further be improved through enhanced regional cooperation and the cooperation with Europol in Frontex.

Director General of the Police also met with the Slovene staff at Europol as part of the convention and visited the office of the Slovenian liaison officers. He also received a detailed presentation of the Europol Forensics Laboratory.

The Director General's delegation in The Hague included Assistant Director of the Police Jože Senica and the Director of the Criminal Police Directorate Damjan Petrič. During the visit to Europol, they were joined by two representatives of the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia Damjana Slapar Burkat, Director of the Controls Administration, and Boris Kastelic, Director of Customs, and both Slovenian liaison officers at Europol Bruno Blažina and Janez Žabkar.