Project

Police Expert Network on Missing Persons

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Project

Police Expert Network on Missing Persons

The Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) is the official European missing persons police network consisting of police experts in the field of missing persons from all over Europe. The network was initiated by the AMBER Alert Europe foundation and is now officially affiliated with the Law Enforcement Working Party (LEWP) of the Council of the European Union.

The PEN-MP brings together over 80 law enforcement experts from 34 EU and non-EU countries. The goal of the PEN-MP is to bring together law enforcement experts in the field of missing persons. The PEN-MP enables fast and direct cross-border cooperation and communication between law enforcement experts in missing person cases. It also provides specialist support, advice, and training to participating law enforcement authorities.

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Current PEN-MP Presidency

On January 1st, 2023, Izanne de Wit, National Coordinator Missing Persons at the Dutch National Police, started her two year presidency of the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons. The PEN-MP makes use of a rotating presidency. The AMBER Alert Europe Foundation collaborates with the Dutch PEN-MP presidency through a joint work programme, including training, research and prevention.

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Official recognition

The PEN-MP was announced in 2016 under the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union. At its launch, the Dutch Presidency called on every Member State to appoint a national contact for the network. In support of the Dutch initiative, a majority of 465 Members of the European Parliament from all EU Member States signed AMBER Alert Europe’s Written Declaration for better European cooperation on saving the lives of missing children.

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Strong cooperation

AMBER Alert Europe recently signed a cooperation agreement with PEN-MP where it transferred secretarial activities to the current PEN-MP presidency while continuing to support PEN-MP and its members upon request with its projects, which includes for example providing prevention campaigns and law enforcement training on missing persons.

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