In this country we are innocent until proved guilty, but in other countries it different. New laws could mean that UK drivers could soon have to prove their innocence even if a crime has been committed in an eastern European country.
This is the ultimate in big brother technology, where a cloned number plate could be used in any one of the twenty six euro zone countries to commit a crime or even being involved in a fatal accident. The local authorities can then ask the DVLA for the vehicle owner’s details, name, address etc and report this crime to the UK police who would have to investigate it.
Now most people would never have an alibi or proof that they were driving the vehicle, this could mean arrest, a court appearance and more than likely extradition proceedings started against the person whose details match the number plate.
Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said, ‘There is a real risk that a disproportionate number of innocent British citizens will be sucked into foreign criminal investigations.’
‘It is a fundamental principle of British justice that if you are accused of a serious criminal offence, you get your day in court.
‘My fear is that ministers have magnified the risk of British citizens becoming the victim of miscarriages of justice that take place abroad but have effectively been sanctioned by their own government at home.’
This is serious enough to be thought provoking at the very least.
Phil Booth, of the NO2ID privacy campaign, said the Government was allowing its own assault on the principle of innocent until proven guilty to be extended to other EU nations.
Naturally the Home Office are talking this project up, despite the governments past experience with data protection.
A Home Office spokesperson said, ‘This initiative will bring benefits to law enforcement authorities in investigating and prosecuting serious crime. During early operation of the system, German officials received more than 1,500 hits on DNA profiles held by Austrian authorities, offering new leads to unsolved cases.
‘Prum will speed up existing procedures for member states to find out whether any other state has the information it needs, often returning a hit or no hit within 50 seconds.’
Source [Daily Mail]
