Under a new proposal, Europol is set to receive unprecedented access to personal data related to current and potential cross-border investigations. It’s part of a wider plan to expand the use of AI in policing.

Europol is not currently allowed to search for and store personal data without, according to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), “indications” that the data is relevant. But in May 2026, former Europol officials revealed to investigative journalists that the agency has been running “shadow systems” for years. These parallel systems sit outside the agency’s mainframe, allowing them to avoid data protection and IT design requirements.

The plans would also expand Europol’s role in dealing with the private sector. The agency would become the central “hub” for private actors to share information and receive funding for digital policing tools development. Such tools include tech for subverting encryption, for instance, or for scaling up automated profiling.