Brexit: No-deal poses serious security risk, say police

By Muhammad Mussa

London

A “no-deal” Brexit poses a serious and substantial risk to public safety, with police officers at risk of losing vital access to information and powers, Britain's home secretary was told in a leaked letter published today.

The document, leaked to The Guardian daily and marked as “official sensitive,” warned that police officers would face a “significant loss of operational capacity” if the U.K. left the EU without a deal and urged Home Secretary Sajid Javid to draft contingency plans.

The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) said the police would lose vital access to databases and cross-border investigative powers and are becoming “increasingly concerned that such a loss of capacity could pose significant risks to our local communities.”

The APCC has been in consultation with the National Crime Agency and the National Police Chief’s Council and has expressed growing concerns that the government is not ready for such a crisis.

“Considerable additional resource would be required for policing to operate using non-EU tools and … such tools would be suboptimal – potentially putting operational efficiency and public safety at risk,” said the letter, signed by commissioners representing the Conservative and Labour parties as well as independents.

“We are therefore concerned that a ‘no-deal’ scenario could cause delays and challenges for U.K. policing and justice agencies,” the letter added.

According to the letter, U.K. police make use of the 32 different law enforcement and national security measures on which EU membership is dependent.

Furthermore, the British court system depends on European criminal record information to know and understand the history of foreign criminals and offenders.