NEW EU POLICE INVESTIGATION CO-OPERATION ALARMS CIVIL LIBERTIES WATCHDOGS

EU OBSERVER - LEIGH PHILLIPS

Long a refusenik in the realm of European co-operation on justice and home affairs, the UK has decided to opt in to a proposal that will simplify requests by police in other EU member states to investigate suspects in criminal cases.

The British government is calling the move a new "invaluable tool" in the fight against transborder crime, but civil liberties watchdogs say that the move will force police to investigate individuals for acts that are not considered crimes in their home country.

Separately, Fair Trials International, a human rights charity that campaigns for the rights of people facing criminal charges in a country other than their own, warns that the move will "allow European countries to order ... police to gather and share sensitive personal information, including recordings of bugged conversations, banking records and DNA," and that police will be "powerless to refuse an order."

Jago Russell, head of the campaign group, said: "Police time could be wasted dealing with unreasonable demands for evidence and the cost to our privacy could be enormous. The proposals are also completely one-sided. If you are under suspicion you will have no right to demand information from overseas police to prove your innocence."