CRIMINAL fugitives from other European countries may be able to hide in Scotland after Brexit, officials have warned.
A Scottish Government paper insists police and prosecutors face “complex and far-reaching” challenges in tackling cross-border crime after the UK leaves the EU.
It calls for existing links to be maintained in order to combat criminals – including protecting access to Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency.
READ MORE: Iain Macwhirter: The voters must be given the chance to dump this cliff-edge Brexit
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson insisted “international crime has never respected borders”.
He said: “Over the years Scotland’s police and prosecution services have built strong links with their EU counterparts to help keep people safe.
“Withdrawal from the current regime of co-operation, including for example the European Arrest Warrant system, could mean returning to a more fragmented system of seeking assistance across borders.
“We risk being left behind as our European counterparts develop more effective tools to deal with present and future threats.”
The new report warns that losing membership of Europol without another agreement in place would see information provided by Police Scotland wiped from its databases – potentially prejudicing ongoing investigations.
It adds: “Also, Police Scotland will no longer have access to data held by Europol.
“In practice this could mean that fugitives from other European countries may not be identified as such and steps taken to remove them from Scotland.
“Similarly, it would make it more difficult and time consuming to apprehend Scottish criminals who flee overseas.”
Europol is involved in more than 18,000 investigations every year, while Police Scotland has submitted 30 requests through the agency for cross-border surveillance.
READ MORE: Iain Macwhirter: The voters must be given the chance to dump this cliff-edge Brexit
The Scottish Government paper, the latest in a series outlining ‘Scotland’s Place in Europe’, also warns the impact of Brexit may mean “the loss of access to EU-wide criminal records of UK citizens and the inability to implement public protection provisions”.
It emphasises the need for Scotland’s separate legal and judicial system to be taken into account during the negotiation process, to ensure cross-border crime can continue to be tackled.
Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC, Scotland’s top prosecutor, said: “It will be important, in the negotiations between the UK and the EU, that effective arrangements are agreed which maintain our collective capability for tackling crime and keeping our citizens safe.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel