EU criminal database will be denied to UK police owing to Brexit

Fears of significant blow to fight against crossborder crime

Access to a database containing identities of some of Europe’s worst terrorists and organised criminals will be lost to UK police because of data protection laws.

As a result of Brexit, access to the EU’s so-called proposal on intraoperability database – set up in the aftermath of the Berlin Christmas market attack in 2016 – will be limited to the country’s police because of tight legislation on GDPR.

UK intelligence services and police were instrumental in the creation of the information portal, which is part of a larger EU-wide security network designed to protect European citizens.

Currently the identities of those who would wish to cause harm and break the law are shared between all 28 member states of the EU.

SNP shadow Home Secretary Joanna Cherry QC said the only people who will benefit as a result of the issue are those “trying to escape the law”.

Police still hope to have some access to the system during the transition period, but a high-ranking EU security head responsible for steering the directive told The Courier British access will end on February 1.

They said: “The irony of this is in the last three-and-a-half years we have spent all this time linking them all up – and I don’t know what the future relationship will be – but what I notice at the moment is that there is no third country that has access to those databases.

“There is UK data on the database which will need to come out.”

When asked if it was because of data protection laws, the source confirmed that was the case.

General secretary of the Scottish Police Federation Calum Steele said: “The loss of access will be a significant blow for the fight against cross border crime.

“The risk of loss of this access was one of the earliest risks identified by police officers when Brexit was first mooted.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Campbell, of Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division, said: “We continue to prepare for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and to identify contingencies for a number of the EU tools we may lose access to.

“However, we will have access to these tools during the implementation period. We will still have a range of options available to use in terms of fugitives who are outwith the UK.”

Joanna Cherry MPs aid :“Membership of the EU secures vital counter terrorism and policing information which Police Scotland use daily to keep us safe and to prevent and detect crime.

“Brexit jeopardises the close security arrangements we have with our EU partners. Any post-Brexit security measures are almost certain to be less effective than those Scotland currently has through our membership of the EU.”

The Home Office did not respond to a request for comment.

The risk of loss of this access was one of the earliest risks identified by police officers when Brexit was first mooted. CALUM STEELE, SCOTTISH POLICE FEDERATION GENERAL SECRETARY