Top cop: policing would be harder under no-deal Brexit
Sara Thornton has warned a no-deal Brexit will make it harder for police to protect UK citizens
A no-deal Brexit will make it harder for police to protect UK citizens as forces fall back on "slower, more bureaucratic" systems, one of the country's most senior officers has warned.
Sara Thornton, chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council, spoke as plans were unveiled for a new unit that will oversee how forces use alternative systems if the UK crashes out if the EU in the spring.
She said: "The fallbacks we're going to have to use will be slower, will be more bureaucratic and it will make it harder for us to protect UK citizens and make it harder to protect EU citizens."
There are 40 tools that UK law enforcement may lose access to, including the European Arrest Warrant and the Schengen Information System, which was accessed 539m times by British authorities last year alone.
Labour MP Virendra Sharma MP, a champion of the anti-Brexit campaign group Best for Britain, said it showed Brexit was "putting our vital security co-operation at risk".
You may also want to watch:
He said: "Organised crime and criminals do not stop at the cliffs of Dover, and Britain gains from being part of the European Arrest Warrant and Europol.
"Working together to catch criminals shows starkly how dangerous a no-deal brexit could be.
Most Read
- 1 Tory MP blames 'chaotic parents' for children going to school hungry
- 2 Boris Johnson 'hid in bedroom' to avoid grilling on Brexit stance days before becoming PM
- 3 Danny Dyer praised for criticisms of Tory party - pointing out Etonians can't run the country
- 4 George Osborne says it is 'game over' for Boris Johnson over free school meals
- 5 UKIP set to select 'Dr Gammons' as candidate for London mayoral election
- 6 Liz Truss' department slammed for false claim about cost of soy sauce after Brexit
- 7 Andy Burnham could have been 'halfway through tenure as PM by now', claims commentator
- 8 Minister sparks concerns about pig semen after Brexit
- 9 Minister says he 'doesn't understand' accusation he's starving kids in holidays
- 10 Piers Morgan calls Boris Johnson a 'blustering buffoon' in attack on PM's handling of Covid-19 pandemic
"For all these supposedly 'law and order' Conservatives to turn their backs on that shows how determined they are to pull up the drawbridge.
"They seem to want to go back to the bad old days of the Costa del Crime.'
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
