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Scotland: Cross-border curbs scrapped (1)

01 January 1991

Scotland: Cross-border curbs scrapped
artdoc June=1994

Internal border controls within the UK which prevent police
officers from England and Northern Ireland from making arrests
in Scotland are to be scrapped. The change has been introduced
in an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill,
and was accepted without a vote by the all-party House of Commons
Committee on 1 March. MPs complained that they had been presented
with a whole series of amendments to the Bill, which was
introduced in December, with no chance to debate their
implications. It also poses a question over suspects' rights
because the Scottish legal system is different and quite distinct
from that in England and Wales.
At present officers working outside of their usual legal
jurisdiction are stripped of their powers of arrest. The proposal
will allow Scottish officers to make arrests south of the border,
and officers from English and Welsh police forces and the Royal
Ulster Constabulary to operate in Scotland. Current cross-border
police powers are restricted to a narrow corridor along the
Border. This allows officers from Lothian and Borders, Dumfries
and Galloway forces and those from Northumbria and Cumbria to
follow criminals in `hot pursuit' into the neighbouring country.
Carole Ewart, director of the Scottish Council for Civil
Liberties said that the proposals would sweep away the
independence and protection of Scotland's legal system and had
been introduced without public debate.
Scotsman, 2.3.94.

Statewatch Vol 4 no 2, March-April 1994