Police are scrambling to save the vital details of suspected criminals and missing people in case a database is “switched off” by a no-deal Brexit.
Thousands of names are being hurriedly “double keyed” into the Interpol system – amid fears the UK will lose all access to the Schengen Information System (SIS II), in just eight weeks’ time.
Richard Martin, the deputy assistant commissioner at the Met in charge of Brexit preparations, warned of the “massive impact” on policing of a no-deal.
And, on SIS II, he revealed: “We are either not in it not in it, for want of a better word –there is no sort of halfway house.
“We’re putting the most important alerts that we have on SIS also onto the Interpol system, so that – if it is literally switched off at 2300 hours on the 31st – then policing will still have access to those alerts that we consider to be the most important,” he told a parliamentary inquiry.
Lord Ricketts, a former government national security adviser, said: “If the screens go completely dark on SIS II, because we are no longer a member of the EU or Schengen, that would be quite serious for UK policing.”
Boris Johnson is facing growing criticism for sidelining the need for a security deal, in the focus on trying to rescue a trade agreement before the end of the transition period.
Ministers admitted last year that Britons would be less safe if the UK crashed out without a deal – although membership of Europol and the European Arrest Warrant will be lost even with an agreement.
Mr Martin told the Lords EU security committee that a “couple of thousand” names were being transferred, of suspected criminals wanted overseas and of missing people – a list being reviewed regularly.
“I’m comfortable that we have on the systems what we need but, yes, it is still a capability gap and a massive impact for us,” he warned. And he added: “Do I worry about losing SIS II? Yes, I do.”
The UK has alone has placed more than 4 million alerts on SIS II and forces used it a staggering 603 million times last year.
Mr Martin played down fears of a return to “people hiding on the Costa del Crime”, but made clear extradition arrangements would be “definitely more clunky and not the same capability that we have now”.
“Even with the negotiated outcome, we won’t have European Arrest Warrant anymore,” he told peers, adding: “People in Europol will have to decamp out of the building and we will have to negotiate our way in.”
Without a deal, the UK will have to fall back on a 1957 convention to prevent suspects escaping justice in the EU – described by Mr Martin as “a really clumsy and ridiculous process”.
Ministers hope to strike Norway and Iceland-style arrangements, under which police would still have the power of arrest – instead of having to obtain a warrant – but still not guaranteeing extradition from EU countries.
