‘No-deal makes it hard to arrest foreign suspects’
A POLICE boss fears officers will be powerless to arrest foreign crime suspects on the spot in Britain if there’s a nodeal Brexit.
North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has warned of the dangers if the UK crashes out of the European Union on March 29.
It won’t be possible for North Wales Police to detain suspects until a warrant was obtained from the courts, even when checks showed an individual was wanted overseas, he said.
Mr Jones fears suspects could abscond if police have to rely on slower and more bureaucratic measures than existing arrangements.
It could also affect North Wales Police’s ability to battle terrorism and organised crime including modern slavery and human and drugs trafficking.
Mr Jones said: “I am worried as we edge nearer the Brexit precipice that the people of north Wales will be put at risk if the folly of a no-deal departure comes to pass.”
He spoke out after the issue was raised by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Martin, the national policing lead for Brexit.
Mr Martin said: “We could not arrest that person in front of us, while with an European Arrest Warrant we can do it instantaneously. The officer has to go to a magistrates’ court to get a warrant under the 1957 convention of extradition.”