Police to share data across EU

POLICE forces from any EU state can request DNA samples from citizens in Ireland under new EU rules.

Also, officers from member states investigating specific crimes here can wear their own uniforms and carry weapons.

Comprehensive new rules on the sharing of information to assist in tackling crime were agreed by EU justice ministers yesterday.

The agreement will permit police to search DNA, fingerprint and vehicle-registration data bases in all EU countries and to swap information on suspected trouble makers ahead of major sports events or political demonstrations.

It also allows for police to take part in joint operations throughout member states, wearing their own uniforms and carrying whatever arms they normally do in their own country.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaueble welcomed the agreement and said the project on which it was based had operated very well between his country and six others over the last two years.

“This agreement will provide police with an important source of information. Germany and Austria made sensational breakthroughs that allowed them to solve a big number of serious crimes in a very short time,” he said.

It commits every EU country to having a DNA database that will be accessible by police throughout the union, available through a central agency when looking for crime or terrorist suspects.

Britain’s database is the most advanced and includes more than 50,000 samples from the North.

Legislation to set up Ireland’s database to cross check DNA samples has just been finalised.

The agreement was criticised by civil rights organisations and by some MEPs as infringing citizens’ rights. The ministers agreed that the Council of Europe Convention on data protection should apply.