While policing and crime did not have much of an airing during the summer before the UK referendum on whether to leave the European Union, it did feature. Remain advocates pointed to Europol – the European Union’s policing agency, headed by a Briton, Rob Wainwright – as one example of how the UK might be worse off, less safe, if the UK were to leave the EU; while Leave campaigners argued that the UK could still co-operate with other Europeans, even after Brexit, on such Europe-wide and Europol-level crimes as payment card fraud, counterfeiting, trafficking, terrorism and cyber.
Home Office Policing Minister Brandon Lewis has notified Parliament of the Government’s intention to opt-in to the revised Europol framework. He said: “The UK is leaving the EU but the reality of cross-border crime remains. Europol provides a valuable service to the UK and opting in would enable us to maintain our current access to the agency, until we leave the EU, helping keep the people of Britain safe. We now await the outcome of the scrutiny process.”
Now that the UK Government has notified Parliament, the intention to opt-in will be scrutinised by the House of Commons and House of Lords EU scrutiny committee.
Comment
National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) chair Sara Thornton said: “Criminals are not constrained by geographical or jurisdictional boundaries. Membership of Europol enables UK police officers tracing missing people or investigating human traffickers, sexual predators or fraudsters to access to vital European intelligence and to work together on investigations and operations. We welcome the Government’s decision to opt into the revised Europol framework because it helps us keep people in the UK safe.”
