How can ragtag Dad’s Army of volunteers patrol UK borders?
A ‘DAD’S Army’ of unpaid border guards will be Britain’s first line of defence against terrorists, people smugglers and organised crime gangs at hundreds of vulnerable air and sea ports.
The ‘Special Volunteer Force’ will police isolated marinas, harbours and airfields but astonishingly, according to union officials opposed to the scheme, they will have no powers to interrogate or arrest suspects. Described by critics last night as ‘risky’ and ‘farcical’, the move follows a series of damning official reports warning that marinas and small airports, where there are no rigorous border checks, could allow illegal immigrants, terrorists and criminals to sneak into Britain undetected.
The Mail on Sunday has discovered that, in a trial run, around 50 volunteers – who will report to the full-time Border Force – will patrol England’s East Coast with plans for the scheme to be expanded later to cover Britain’s 7,000 miles of coastline.
It is understood volunteers will also be used to man border checks at airfields used by light aircraft flying to and from Europe.
‘They’re filling the gaps left by budget cuts ’
Last year David Anderson, the Government’s former adviser on terrorism law, warned that Britain’s small ports and harbours could be used by Islamic fanatics trying to sneak back to the UK from Syria and Iraq.
A separate report published in July by David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, raised fears that sleepy ports and harbours, where checks are virtually non-existent, could be exploited by illegal immigrants and crime gangs smuggling weapons and drugs. Last night, Yvette Cooper, Chairman of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee, said it was wrong to use volunteers in the place of fullytrained staff.
She said: ‘Filling the gaps with volunteers because of budget and staffing cuts raises very serious questions about border security and the Home Office commitment to this important public service. We will be calling for evidence on this proposal as part of our inquiry [into post-Brexit border security].’
Last night the Home Office confirmed that it is consulting with police about how best to deploy the volunteers. A spokesman said: ‘Border Force is currently considering the potential benefits of a Border Force Special Volunteer Force and is in discussion with other law enforcement agencies such as local police to understand how they use volunteers in addition to their existing workforce.’
The Home Office refused to give any details on how the volunteers would be vetted and what training they would get.
But the PCS union – which represents many among Border Force’s 8,000 staff – said the pilot scheme is likely to be rolled out in 2018.
The volunteers will be part of mobile units that would cover several ports and harbours.
A senior union official said if the volunteers see or hear anything suspicious, then they will have to call in properly trained Border Force officers who have arrest and investigative powers. He said: ‘These volunteers will be like eyes and ears, but nothing else. This is trying to police the borders on the cheap.’
Terrorism experts fear there are around 300 British fanatics who fled Syria and Iraq as Islamic State was defeated by Coalition-led forces. Many of them are trying to return to the UK undetected, so they can launch terrorist attacks, police chiefs have warned.
In his report, Mr Anderson highlighted how jihadis could use the sleepy ports and harbours of England. He said: ‘It is conceivable that they [small ports] might be an option for returning foreign fighters or other terrorists, as they appear to be for the migrants who are sometimes reported to be using them, or seeking to use them, in order to get into the country.’
Last night, Charlie Elphicke, the Tory MP for Dover, said: ‘Small ports and airfields are a known security weakness in our border security. So it’s important to ensure that security is stepped up, particularly to stop illegal immigrants and returning ISIS fighters.
‘Border security is a skilled job, which takes many years of training. I would urge great caution before seeking to adopt a model like that used by the police, with special constables. We can’t have a Dad’s Army-type of set-up.’
The PCS said the Home Office wants volunteers to police the small ports as it does not have fulltime officers to do the job.
Latest Home Office figures show that over 400 Border Force officers were laid off between 2015 to 2016 as part of budget cuts.
Small ports and harbours have been used to smuggle drugs and weapons by crime gangs.
In 2015, the National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested a gang who smuggled £100,000 of weapons into Cuxton marina in Rochester, Kent, in a cruiser. The automatic guns were made by the same firm that made the weapons used in the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.
They included 22 assault rifles, nine sub-machine guns, and 1,500 rounds of ammunition.
Concern has been growing that people traffickers avoiding heightened security checks around the Channel Tunnel and major ports are also turning to small marinas where there is an absence of rigorous checks.
Two men, including a former judo champion, were jailed for two years after smuggling 18 Albanians migrants, including two children, into Eastbourne marina in 2014. In May last year, 17 Albanian illegal immigrants were caught at Chichester harbour in West Sussex, having arrived on a catamaran from France. Bolt’s report said 27 small ports, harbours and marinas had not been policed by Border Force officers for over 15 months.
The report said: ‘Coverage of smaller ports, harbours and marinas was poor. The numbers of clandestine arrivals identified by Border Force at East Coast ports had indeed increased.
‘There is no visible deterrent to anyone prepared to use these spots to land migrants and contraband.’
Last year, the NCA wrote an assessment, which also said there was no border control at small marinas around the UK coast.
Mary Glindon, the Labour MP for North Tyneside, said: ‘This is farcical. What message does it send to the world about our border security if volunteers are doing it?’
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the PCS, said: ‘We are concerned with Home Office plans to bring in untrained volunteers to undertake Border Force roles.
‘They [Government] are making our borders weaker with the use of casual labour and they are risking this country’s security on the cheap.’
Last night, the Home Office defended its proposal to use volunteers. A spokesman said: ‘Were we to introduce Border Force volunteers, they would be used to bolster Border Force staffing levels. Volunteers have already proved successful in policing.’
OUR islands are not as safe as they used to be. The sea which protected our long and often lonely coastline against invasion is now all-too-easily crossed by small boats or light aircraft which evade the tight surveillance imposed at major ports and airports.
Experts such as David Anderson, a former government adviser on terror law, and David Bolt, the independent inspector of borders, have repeatedly warned us to turn our attention to this problem. Nobody in government can claim they have not been warned.
Without a seriously extended Border Force, we cannot be sure who is coming into the country. If there is an unlocked back door, then dangerous people are all too likely to sneak in through it.
Of course, resources are not limitless. And it is easy to see why someone in Whitehall thought it might be worth trying to deal with this problem by mobilising a ‘Dad’s Army’ of volunteers, said to lack powers of arrest or interrogation.
It is equally easy to see why this idea is wrong and foolish. Just because these poorly-guarded ports are small does not mean the danger is. On the contrary, very worrying individuals backed by considerable resources – including jihadis returning from the Middle East – could be using such routes.
To deter them, full-time professionals with extensive powers must be deployed on this new front line, in such a way that anyone hoping to evade border checks quickly realises the risk is too great.