Acting Director General of the Police, Damjan Petrič, together with a delegation, visited The Hague from 22 to 24 September 2025, where he took part in the European Police Chiefs Convention (EPCC). This year’s meeting of police chiefs from the European Union and Schengen Area member states, heads of customs services, representatives of Europol, the European Commission and other EU agencies was hosted jointly by Europol and Denmark, the current holder of the Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The chiefs of police and other high-level participants discussed several key topics, including the recruitment of minors into organised crime, money-laundering, and the misuse of new electronic financial services.
Participants underlined that law-enforcement authorities often struggle to keep pace with rapid technological developments in this field, which hampers effective tracing of financial flows and, consequently, exposes challenges in identifying criminal networks. They also noted that legislative gaps persist across EU member states, underscoring the need to further strengthen cooperation between the public and private sectors, particularly through public-private partnerships.
On the margins of the conference, Petrič held a series of bilateral meetings. He met with Aleksandar Janev, Director of the Macedonian Police, as well as with Julia Sweeney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service. Ms Sweeney expressed her appreciation to the Slovenian Police for its support in protecting the U.S. Embassy in Ljubljana and the U.S. Ambassador to NATO during his visit to Slovenia.
In the framework of the convention, the Acting Director General also met with Slovenian staff serving at Europol and visited the facilities where Slovenian liaison officers are stationed. He was further briefed on the work of Europol’s Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT) and toured its operational centre.
The Slovenian delegation included, in addition to Acting Director General of the Police Damjan Petrič, Assistant Director General Jože Senica and Director of the Criminal Police Directorate Matjaž Jerkič. At Europol headquarters, the delegation was joined by Peter Grum, Director General of the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Damjana Slapar Burkat, Director of the Supervision Directorate at the Financial Administration, and Slovene Europol liaison officers Bruno Blažina and Janez Žabkar.
