No-Deal Brexit To Hurt UK Police's Powers To Arrest Foreigners - Senior Officer

Umer Jamshaid Published February 11, 2019 | 04:03 PM

In case of a no-deal Brexit, the UK police's powers to arrest foreign suspects would be impaired, a senior UK police officer said Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) In case of a no-deal Brexit, the UK police's powers to arrest foreign suspects would be impaired, a senior UK police officer said Monday.

"We could not arrest that person in front of us, while with an EAW [European Arrest Warrant] we can do it instantaneously ... The officer has to go to a magistrates court to get a warrant under the 1957 convention of extradition ... Every fallback we have is more bureaucratic, it is slower ... We go back to a slower, clunkier place," deputy assistant commissioner Richard Martin said, as quoted by The Guardian.

He added that criminals would have more chances to run away and hide if the UK police was waiting for information from abroad.

Martin also stressed that frontline policing would require more time and effort to be carried out.

The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union in late March. The two sides have reached a withdrawal deal. However, it has not yet been approved by UK lawmakers, prompting fears of a no-deal Brexit both in Brussels and in London.