Patrick Voss

Career

Voss was in 2015 as project leader responsible for the development and implementation of the EU Internet Referral Unit part of the European Counter Terrorism Center at Europol. In the aftermath of terrorists attacks in France and elsewhere, in January 2015 EU Ministers requested Europol to set up an EU IRU to deal with violent extremist content disseminated via social media before. He ensured that the EU IRU was operational timely on 1 July 2015 in steering the efforts of counter-terrorists and ICT experts, and in particular in liaising with counter terrorist services in the Member States, as well as the European Commission and private Internet Providers.

From mid 2014-2015 Voss was Deputy Operational Commander of the Combined Joint Inter Agency Task Force MH17 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Operating in a complex (geo) political context with a wide range of partners like Dutch Military, OSCE, UNHCR, NGO’s, Australian and Malaysian Police, local and national authorities in the Ukraine, he was responsible for recovery of human remains, personal belongings and wreckage of the MH 17 (plane crash - July 2014).

From 2010-2014 he was Head of the National Operations Centre (NOC) at the Ministry of Justice and Security / National Coordinator Terrorism and Safety. The NOC's mission is to coordinate the civil protection assistance of several organisations encompassing the police, military, fire brigade, medical services and municipalities during national and international large-scale incidents, disasters and events. As Head NOC, Voss was Chief of Staff of the National Operational Staff, which advises the Board of Ministers in times of national crisis. He was also the National Training Coordinator for the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. On behalf of further development of the NOC, he studied best practices and visited Thailand, Italy and Afghanistan at EU and NATO level. Employing leadership skills and establishing fruitful collaboration between several operational organisations, he facilitated the reorganisation and further development of the NOC.

In 2010, Voss spent - as part of a special educational Programme- three months with the Toronto Police Service (TPS), Canada, focusing strongly on studying diversity policy. Intercultural skills including open-mindedness, cultural empathy, flexibility and social initiative were sharpened, as well as gaining further in-depth knowledge of the codes of communication and interaction of multicultural groups.

Previously, Patrick Voss was Programme Manager Transport Security at the Netherlands Police. The primary programme goal was to improve the information and intelligence position in relation to transport related crime. Results were more insights into the behaviour of criminals, which led to a higher probability of detection.

In 2007 Voss was Project Manager at the Netherlands Police Agency on behalf of the national Police reorganisation and to aid further development of Undercover Units. Voss utilised project management expertise incorporating necessary diplomacy, innovation and negotiation skills. Strong alliances were formed with stakeholders in Canada, UK, Austria, Germany and Belgium and the reorganisation was successfully finalised.

As Chief of a local police station in 2004, he held responsibility for 50 police officers and was tasked with strategic development of the regional police force.

In 2001, during a 4-year period as Chief Detective Inspector at a regional criminal investigation department, he was in command of 120 detectives in matters including the fight against international serious organised crime, cooperating regularly with the UK, USA, Canada, and EU countries.

Earlier in his career, Voss worked as a staff member of common and judicial affairs at the Cabinet of the Chief Commissioner. In a strong governmental and political environment, he was responsible for grievance and appeal procedures, legal completion and advice on internal affairs, general support of the Chief Commissioner and the development of complex policy themes. Voss started his career as an officer on the beat, followed by various detective related work in both national and international criminal investigations.