An agreement’s been signed between police in the USA and the UK
that will make it easier for both countries to share criminal
records information.
The memorandum of understanding is between the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) and ACRO Criminal Records
Office.
Both organisations are well placed to share information; ACRO is
the UK police unit that exchanges criminal records with law
enforcement agencies in other countries while the FBI’s Criminal Justice
Information Services Division serves as the central
repository of criminal records and fingerprints processed by
thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal police
organisations in the USA.
The agreement formalises current criminal history exchange
processes and focuses on pro-actively sharing information in
order to keep people safe and bring offenders to justice.
Under the terms of the agreement, ACRO will send the FBI details
of US nationals convicted in the UK and vice versa, and both
organisations will respond to requests about either countries’
nationals who have criminal records in the USA or the
UK.
The FBI’s Assistant Director Douglas E. Lindquist of the Criminal
Justice Information Services Division said: “We value the close
partnership we have with ACRO and we are pleased to announce the
expansion of our information sharing relationship. This momentous
agreement benefits both countries and formalizes the process to
share information between each other. We are very much looking
forward to working closer with our partners.”
ACRO Chief Executive Ian Readhead said: “This agreement is
police-to-police. It adds confidence to the police service and
communities in the UK because we have a coherent agreement
whereby we can gain access to criminal histories which are
relevant in relation to whether you grant somebody bail, for
example, or whether a judge determining tariff would add anything
because of the conviction history that may exist in the USA.”
