EU to share access to single ID database

POLICE and security services across the European Union will share access to a wide range of individuals’ personal data thanks to radical new measures.

It allows agencies in different countries to search one another’s databases for fingerprints, DNA records, vehicle details and other personal information. Even if someone has no criminal record and their DNA is not on a database, police or judges can ask their foreign colleagues to collect a sample.

The scheme was introduced between Germany and Austria in December and has netted almost 3,000 people fleeing the law, according to German Interior Minister Dr Wolfgang Schauble.