The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
One of Lincolnshire’s top cops has told a meeting in Long Sutton about his fears over crime-fighting post Brexit.
Deputy Chief Constable Craig Naylor was among the speakers at the recent talk entitled The Implications of Brexit on the Lincolnshire Economy.
It was part of the Social Issues in South Lincolnshire talks held bi-annually at St Mary’s Church in Long Sutton.
Mr Naylor told the meeting he was worried that, post-Brexit, it was unclear as to whether the police force would have the same links and access to information it currently does through the likes of Interpol and European Arrest Warrants.
Mr Naylor said: “I don’t feel very assured by the government reaction to Brexit.
“We (Lincolnshire Police) currently work well with our integrated systems across Europe.
“We work with the likes of Interpol and other organisations to protect the public.
“If there is a no deal Brexit we may lose the ability to access intelligence and IT systems.
“We work closely with EU countries and we’ve done it recently. We had a family in Lincolnshire whose children were in danger and they fled to Germany.
“We worked with the German authorities and Interpol to secure the children’s safety and returned them to Lincolnshire.
“Without what we have now, we wouldn’t have been able to do that.
“Just this week we’ve been dealing with authorities in France and Germany. In the future I don’t know how we’re going to do that.
“We want to be in a position where we retain everything we currently have.”
Mr Naylor emphasised that the sharing of informattion was vital going forward, particularly with changing technologies.
“We have started looking to the future,” he continued. “We’ve got what technology can give us but what will that give us in five-years-time.
“Think of what your phone can do now and in five-years-time double it.”
