Police and European borders

[2Btoo]

Serious Q: If you were observed committing a motoring offence while travelling near the border of a European country and the police pursued you but you crossed the border before they caught you, what would they do? Abandon chase at the border or continue to pursue you?

If they did continue to pursue you and stopped you then what rights would they have to do so?

(I appreciate that the answer to this may be that it depends - possibly upon the offence, possibly upon the two countries in question.)


Thanks.

[Riley Blue]

They'd most likely radio ahead to the other country's police who would be waiting to welcome you, probably with guns drawn.

[carreauchompeur]

At a 'hard' border you'd definitely end up on the pointy end of a gun

[Andyhb]

2Btoo said:

Serious Q: If you were observed committing a motoring offence while travelling near the border of a European country and the police pursued you but you crossed the border before they caught you, what would they do? Abandon chase at the border or continue to pursue you?

If they did continue to pursue you and stopped you then what rights would they have to do so?

(I appreciate that the answer to this may be that it depends - possibly upon the offence, possibly upon the two countries in question.)


Thanks.

Probably build the file and submit a request for a European arrest warrant if it was serious enough. Then you'd get a knock on the door a few weeks later by your local plod.

[carreauchompeur]

Andyhb said:

Probably build the file and submit a request for a European arrest warrant if it was serious enough. Then you'd get a knock on the door a few weeks later by your local plod.

A few weeks later? fk me, you've never tried getting one in this country! Hard enough to get a knock on the door even

[Tomo1971]

2Btoo said:

Serious Q: If you were observed committing a motoring offence while travelling near the border of a European country and the police pursued you but you crossed the border before they caught you, what would they do? Abandon chase at the border or continue to pursue you?

If they did continue to pursue you and stopped you then what rights would they have to do so?

(I appreciate that the answer to this may be that it depends - possibly upon the offence, possibly upon the two countries in question.)


Thanks.

Similar to how it operates when people drive between counties in the UK when been pursued - cops call ahead via their control to forewarn the adjacent county (country) and the local police will take over at the earliest opportunity.

[Craigyp79]

I think it depends what agreements each country has with their neighbours, here in France the Belgium police can continue to pursue over the border.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sus...

[2Btoo]

Guys,

Thanks - helpful responses.

[Medic-one]

I lived in Holland, right on the borders with Germany and Belgium.

They all had an agreement about working in each others territory and would be able to continue a pursuit across the border and take the suspects back to the country the crime was comitted in.

I remember turning up at an RTC in Holland, between 2 Belgian drivers who then started arguing and fighting with each other, and when we called for police backup the nearest unit was a german police unit less then 10 minutes away, who came and arrested the belgians, in Holland.

[Red Devil]

Medic-one said:

I lived in Holland, right on the borders with Germany and Belgium.

Vaals?

Edited by Red Devil on Monday 27th November 22:12

[Medic-one]

Red Devil said:

Vaals?

Yup, Limburg zuid, so Vaals, Epen, Heerlen, Valkenburg, Landgraaf, Maastricht, that area.

[Red Devil]

I was curious why the road to the Drielandenpunt is named Viergrenzenweg.
The answer proved fascinating. The fourth mini country/condominium existed for just over 100 years.
I never even knew of its existence. When that ceased in 1920 I wonder why the road name wasn't changed?

[Decky_Q]

The NI/ROI border is used by many criminals to twart a pursuit. There is an agreement in place between both police forces to radio ahead and cooperate but timing is usually out so the crooks get away with it. Understandably due to historical issues the British Security forces aren't permitted to pursue in ROI.

[mac96]

Decky_Q said:

The NI/ROI border is used by many criminals to twart a pursuit. There is an agreement in place between both police forces to radio ahead and cooperate but timing is usually out so the crooks get away with it. Understandably due to historical issues the British Security forces aren't permitted to pursue in ROI.

Excellent new word- 'thwart' with an NI accent!

[Red Devil]

mac96 said:

Excellent new word- 'thwart' with an NI accent!

Particularly if shouted at max volume: Ian Paisley style.

[theboss]

I have often wondered the same - it’s interesting to read that France and Belgium are effectively borderless in this respect.

I had an interesting experience once on the E40 heading Westbound through Belgium approaching the French border at somewhere north of 100mph. To my horror I spotted a French gendarme on a motorcycle stationary just off the hard shoulder and he was looking at me, but curiously the French border sign was about 100m behind him. I anchored on hard and passed him at the limit more-or-less.

He then set off and caught me up as I sheepishly sat at the limit - I was waking my sleeping passenger at this point asking how many euros he had in cash to hand - but the gendarme just sat next to me glaring disapprovingly for a while then took off.

I wondered if he’d seen me committing the crime on Belgian soil and been powerless to do much about it - or whether he just didn’t have a verified speed (no radar in hand when he clocked me) to go with.

[Black_S3]

Craigyp79 said:

I think it depends what agreements each country has with their neighbours, here in France the Belgium police can continue to pursue over the border.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sus...

As with the rest of the Schengen zone...

[Opel-GT]

Medic-one said:

Yup, Limburg zuid, so Vaals, Epen, Heerlen, Valkenburg, Landgraaf, Maastricht, that area.

I know that area very well. I remember the hard borders there too.