Police chief urges more EU cooperation

BRUSSELS, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- The head of the European Police Office has urged the EU to make better use of the agency to fight terrorism, the Financial Times reported Friday.

The agency, which was designed to be the focal point for EU police cooperation, has been largely left out of European member states' campaign to prevent possible acts of terror.

"We have made good progress in the last year. Nevertheless we always need to remind people to give us the right data, the right structure, at the right time," Europol Director Max Peter Ratzel told the FT. The police chief blamed lack of awareness and knowledge about the office within the fragmented national police ranks.

Although the need for more European police cooperation has become clearer after last year's terrorist attack in Madrid and the July bombings in London, national police forces are still reluctant to use the Europol services, Max Peter Ratzel regretted.