The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL) warns that 5G mobile networks may make it harder to track criminals. The agency’s director explains that they currently lack tools that aid criminal eavesdropping on the 4G network.

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They say that the police force in the region joined the 5G technology too late. In turn, this made it harder for them to ensure the preservation of the tracking abilities.

The Europol director, Catherine De Bolle, said using the 4G network for surveillance was “one of the most important investigative tools that police officers and services have”.

She explained that tools and techniques developed to work with 4G made it helpful to investigate criminal gangs. De Bolle added that the technology could also help in locating victims of kidnap.

However, she added that 5G networks made it more difficult to monitor criminals. This was because it scattered data across different elements in the mobile system. “The area we are working in and the technological evolution we are dealing with – the innovation used by criminals, the web-based criminality. It is huge,” De Bolle noted.

According to her, tech firms and governments are making conversations on how to close the surveillance gap.

The European Union also released a report on the dangers of future technologies, 5G technology included. They warned about the potential use of autonomous cars as weapons by terrorists. Furthermore, they warned of ‘the ability of a quantum computer to crack encryption systems.’