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Policing will become much harder after no-deal Brexit: Police chiefs

File photo shows a police officer standing outside a hotel in Bow, east London, on September 5, 2018. (AFP photo)

Police chiefs in the United Kingdom have warned that chasing criminals, making  arrests and other enforcement issues will become “much harder” if Britain leaves the European Union in March without having a deal.

National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) Chair Sara Thornton said Tuesday that the police will find it difficult to protect UK and EU citizens after a no-deal Brexit in which authorities will lose access to a range of EU-side tools like databases.

Thornton, who was making an announcement on setting up a new national unit to help British police adapt to alternative data-sharing and cooperation systems after Brexit, said police forces will have inferior fallback options to use if no deal is reached on Britain’s continued access to European policing options.

“We are determined to do everything we can to mitigate that, but it will be hard,” said Thornton, adding, “The fallbacks we're going to have to use will be slower, will be more bureaucratic and it would make it much harder for us to protect UK citizens and ... EU citizens.”

Richard Martin, deputy assistant commissioner at the NPCC, said a no-deal Brexit will also impact EU countrys’ way of law enforcement, adding, however, that Britain was more pressed to have continued access to some 40 databases and intelligence-sharing mechanisms that are currently operated by the EU.

“Would we like to keep everything we have? Of course,” Martin said, adding that Britain is among the biggest EU contributors of intelligence and action on warrants.

Britain and the EU are in the midst of some tough negotiations for a withdrawal deal. The two sides have hinted that one such agreement would be possible in the middle of October or in early November although there is a considerable chance that Britain leaves the EU with no deal, leaving many issues in bilateral relations unregulated.


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