We need EU-wide database to monitor criminals
There is no EU-wide database on every person with a criminal conviction. Because of this, there is no way that immigration gardaí could have checked the criminal background of Brozovsky when he landed in Ireland.
The family of Sharon Coughlan, along with many others, say there should be.
The 37-year-old was raped and murdered by a man with 25 previous criminal convictions in his home country of the Czech Republic and two in Belgium, where he once lived.
These offences, while not including any sexual crimes, did include aggravated burglary, testimony to a man with a proclivity for violence.
The call of the Coughlan family has been supported by the Rape Crisis Network as part of its campaign to improve the monitoring and vetting of sex offenders. The network’s Cliona Saidlear said there was some information sharing on sex offenders between Ireland and Britain.
“In terms of spreading that across Europe we are at baby steps. Ultimately, that is what we’d like to see, a European-wide net where there are criteria to control the movements of sex offenders and monitor them when they do move,” said Ms Saidlear.
Accepting that Brozovsky did not have a sex offence, she said such a system should include so-called soft information, which would show a person was a suspected sex offender even though he might not have a conviction for such. But there are legal and practical obstacles to progress in this area.
The fundamental legal obstacle is one at the very heart of the EU: that every citizen has to the right to travel freely within the community, and in turn, live and work there.
This right, with some qualifications, applies to criminals, particularly those who have served their sentences. The only people hindered are those who are wanted in relation to a criminal investigation or who are deemed a threat, particularly in relation to terrorism.
And even if you could stop every person coming in, there would have to be a EU computerised database containing information on all criminal records.
“There is free movement within the EU,” said a spokesman for the Department of Justice.
“You can’t stop everyone coming in. If we were to do that for every person entering, you would need access to every criminal justice database in the EU. No such system is in place.
“You would have to stop everyone entering every port and airport. You could imagine the huge difficulties and the human rights issues.”
A Garda spokesman supported this view and said the only system in place to check the background of a citizen from another EU country was after the crime.
“If you are investigating a crime you can access the criminal records, either bilaterally with the other country, through the EU Mutual Assistance Agreement or through Europol, if it involves organised crime.”
He pointed out that even if there was an EU-wide hot list of sex offenders and paedophiles, Brozovsky would not have been on it.
There is an EU system which Ireland is due to join when a second version of it becomes operational next year. The Schengen Information System (SIS) applies across most of the EU countries, but Ireland and Britain have up until now opted out of it completely.
Next year we will join SISII, whereby the Garda computer system will be linked in with all other EU member states, allowing any police force to access certain categories of crime from other states.
However, this will not stop the likes of Brozovsky from entering other EU states. It will only ‘flag’ certain people, such as those wanted for a specific crime or deemed to pose a security threat. It also flags stolen items, such as firearms, vehicles and bank notes.
