Cross‐national criminal databases: The ongoing search for safeguards

Abstract

With the abolition of most internal border controls within the EC cross‐border police information networks are increasingly important in fighting cross‐border crime. But the existence of databases ranging from the relatively unsophisticated Schengen Information System and the proposed European Information System to the UCLAF system to combat fraud raises many legal and criminological issues. There is a danger that the database and profiling approach exaggerates the scale of organised crime to excuse unwarranted interference with civil liberties, and it is not easy to keep large databases secure from hackers. There is no proper mechanism for complaining about abuses, and there may be inadequate protection for political dissidents. On the other hand pooling of information enables the authorities to allocate scarce resources to the most harmful crimes and can help to minimise unwarranted invasions of privacy. National SIRENE bureaux provide judicial and administrative checks by filtering individual requests for information from databases, and safeguards have been built into the procedures for accessing the IRENES database. But there remain causes for concern.