PSNI and Garda in Border slow lane on ‘hot pursuit’ chases

The rules preventing police from continuing pursuits across the Border have ended chases after suspects on more than 40 occasions in the last five years.

Detail Data, part of Belfast-based investigative news website The Detail, found 47 police chases were terminated at the border between 2011 and 2015, with all but three related to pursuits from north to south.

Figures obtained from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) under Freedom of Information legislation show 12 arrests were made in relation to six of the pursuits, meaning that in 41 of the incidents the suspects escaped.

The figures do not take into account incidents where suspects fled before an active police chase was launched or where suspects crossed the Border on foot.

An Garda Síochána said it did not hold data in relation to the number of Border "hot pursuits". But the PSNI provided information relating to three incidents in which the Garda had contacted them to alert them about suspects escaping north.

The term “hot pursuit” is used to describe an incident where a suspect, being pursued by a police force, attempts to escape by crossing a border into another jurisdiction.

The two police services indicated that they work closely and that each has the authority to arrest suspects fleeing from one jurisdiction to the other, though this does not go as far as procedures elsewhere in the European Union where police can continue pursuits across borders.

Stormont’s Department of Justice said a Cross Border Policing Strategy dating from 2010 “is currently under review”, but that there are no immediate plans to legislate for the hot pursuit of suspects at the border. Previous proposals to allow hot pursuit were not approved by the London and Dublin governments.

The Stormont Department of Justice said: "Article 41 of the Schengen Convention, which is not a devolved matter, provides for hot pursuit by police from one state into another. This provision does not apply to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as neither the United Kingdom nor the Republic of Ireland signed up to Article 41."

It added: “There are no plans to adopt Schengen by either the UK or Irish Governments as neither is convinced that it would enhance or materially assist cross border policing in any way.”

In a report on the All-Island Economy published in January, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation recommended that "protocols be constituted that will allow for both the PSNI and An Garda Síochána to pursue criminals into the opposite jurisdiction and in keeping with the law of that jurisdiction make an arrest".

The report added: “While neither Ireland nor the United Kingdom participate in the Schengen Area there exists an EU precedent which facilitates the pursuit of criminals over international borders.”

However, the hot pursuit data provided by the PSNI suggests that such a facility has not been used in the past five years with each of the 47 pursuits stopping at the border and the neighbouring force notified.

The majority of incidents took place in the Derry-Donegal (18) and Newry-Dundalk (8) regions. Other crossing points included Middletown-Monaghan, Strabane-Lifford, Newtownbutler-Clones, Aughnacloy-Emyvale and Crossmaglen-Dundalk.

The Garda said it did not hold information on hot pursuits.

“No such statistics are available. However the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act 1976 allows for persons who have committed an offence in Northern Ireland to be arrested if they flee into our jurisdiction and the same applies with the PSNI.”

Stormont’s Department of Justice said the PSNI and Garda “have an excellent working relationship which provides a firm basis for practical and strategic co-operation between both services, including in emergency situations such as a hot pursuit”.

Warren of back roads and byroads

The Border is roughly 500km long and has in the region of 200 road crossings. A number of roads cross the Border multiple times in a short distance.

For example, Drummully Polyp in Co Monaghan is a small section of the Irish Republic which is almost completely surrounded by Co Fermanagh and effectively cut off from the south by the Finn River.

It is only accessible through Northern Ireland on roads such as the N54/A3, which crosses the Border four times in a 10km stretch.

Another example is the N53/A37 Dundalk to Castleblayney road, which enters and leaves south Armagh on either side of Cullaville.

Despite such interweaving of infrastructure, police on both sides of the Border confirmed that they cannot maintain pursuit once a suspect crosses the Border.

The Garda said: “We would notify PSNI and we would stop at the Border.”

The PSNI added: “PSNI approach would be consistent with An Garda Síochána.”

Detail Data is a BIG Lottery NI funded partnership between The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) and TheDetail.tv investigative journalism website.