Alliance urges pursuit treaty for gardaí and police

The Irish and British Governments should sign a “hot-pursuit” treaty that enables gardaí and police to cross borders to hunt down suspects, it was proposed today.

The plan was put forward by the cross-community Alliance Party in its 38-page Northern Ireland Assembly Election manifesto.

Under the proposal, Alliance would like to see the Garda Síochána and the Police Service of Northern Ireland able to pursue suspects either side of the border.

“Such an instrument could be based on the European Union’s Schengen Agreement and would be an important tool in the fight against terrorism,” Alliance suggested.

Ireland and the UK are the only European Union member states who are not signatories to the Schengen Agreement, which allows police wearing their uniforms and in clearly marked vehicles to cross borders to track down criminals, has led to the closure of border posts between participating countries, stopped customs checks between signatory nations and provides for the sharing of information on terrorism as well as DNA and fingerprint evidence.