Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 01/FOI/24/038068/J
The request sought:
- a copy of the information you hold about such a procedure (where the vehicle was reported stolen to the MPS) and the MPS department/contact associated.
- The number of notifications the MPS received* that a notified ‘stolen’ vehicle in the UK has been recovered abroad since 01/01/2018, month on month, in Excel format with a line per VRM conveying the make, model and year of registration (characters 3 & 4 in the VRM), the country notifying the MPS they have the vehicle, the date of theft and date of repatriation (in the event this information is held and in a readily retrievable format).
*I anticipate this will be from the country where the vehicle has been located. - The advice received about post-Brexit procedures relating to a notified stolen vehicle in the UK recovered abroad, and policy changes insofar as Brexit is concerned.
21/08/2024, the MPS replied.
Several exemptions were cited that may or may not have been justified, appropriate. The disclosed information was as follows:
Q1 – MPS LoS recovered abroad:
The MPS Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Removal of Lost or Stolen (LOS) Vehicles, which VRES owns, primarily relates to stolen vehicles found by Met Police officers in London. This SOP does include information about the recovery of non-UK stolen vehicles, but only where found here in London and how contact should be made with the relevant overseas law enforcement agency.
It does not deal with how requests from overseas law enforcement agencies, about UK stolen vehicle that have found abroad, should be administered.
Pre-Brexit there was a VRES – Shengen Alert (SISII)* and LOS Vehicle Policy (this was repealed following Brexit and the loss of access to the SISII database) and the relevant parts adopted in the current MPS LOS Recovery policy.
This made reference to a “Vehicle Found Abroad Process”, but states that this was not a VRES Process (Please see attached file titled Shengen Vehicle found abroad process – Repealed**) – it says this process was ultimately administered by the Sirene Bureau*** (no longer exists) and involved the OIC of the UK LOS report being notified and given options about what to do with the vehicle.
VRES would only become involved if there was a need to recover the vehicle to the UK as a criminal exhibit.
Any further information is exempt under section 31(1), section 40(2) and partial NCND under section 31(3) section 40(5) section 23(5).
*More about SISII can be found here.
**A copy of the process diagram can be found here.
***The ‘Sirene Bureau’ may no longer exist at the MPS; however, SIRENE (Supplementary Information Request at the National Entries) remains functional
A list of N.SIS Offices and National SIRENE Bureaux & contact details can be found here.
Q2 – Notifications received.
These notifications are received through Interpol channels. The MPS have no direct involvement in collating these figures.
Any further information is exempt under section 31(1), section 40(2) and partial NCND under section 31(3) section 40(5) section 23(5).
Q3 –
I’ve detailed in Q1 that the VRES – Shengen Alert (SISII) and LOS Vehicle policy were repealed and the MPS SOP for the Removal of LOS Vehicles updated to include a section on non-UK LOS vehicles found by officers in London. This includes information about the recovery of such vehicles, undertaking Interpol I24/7 database checks and how the finding officer should notify the reporting country / law enforcement agency about the vehicle.
There were a few Operational Notices about the Interpol toolkit published on the MPS intranet:
• Brexit contingencies and what you need to know – dated 25/11/2020
• Interpol database and loss of SISII
• Brexit – The Met’s position – October 2019
Brexit contingencies and what you need to know
This guidance focused of Brexit contingencies outlining what officers need to know published on the MPS Intranet on 25/11/2020. Further information can be found on the college of policing site.
College of Policing Authorised Professional practice site*.
Further information and guidance
• Use Interpol’s I-24/7 as a backup to the potential loss of SISII alerts
• Familiarise yourselves with the updated guidance hosted locally on Force intranet sites and the College of Policing landing page and Authorised Professional Practice-International
*Limited information relates to vehicles:
- ‘INTERPOL databases can be accessed through their secure global police communications network, the I-24/7 portal. This provides instant, direct access to a wide range of criminal databases, containing millions of records on fingerprints, DNA, stolen motor vehicles, firearms, stolen and lost travel documents and wanted persons.’
Interpol database and loss of SISII
This guidance outlined that as of the 31st December 2020 the UK no longer have access to SIS, EU alerts on PNC.
The Interpol database will be the format used by the UK and EU Policing to circulate alerts inside/outside of the UK.
Any further information is exempt under section 31(1), section 40(2) and partial NCND under section 31(3) section 40(5) section 23(5).
Brexit – The Met’s position – October 2019
This guidance says the UK is due to leave the European Union (EU) on 31 October 2019. This may impact on policing in a variety of way and the Met has plans in place for a range of scenarios:
Any further information is exempt under section 31(1), section 40(2) and partial NCND under section 31(3) section 40(5) section 23(5).
Regarding questions 1, 2, 3
The MPS can neither confirm nor deny that it holds any other information relevant to your request as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Act does not apply, by virtue of the following exemptions:
The MPS is responding in general as to the process regarding circulation and notification to countries. The MPS would not share who we use to conduct those enquiries with. The MPS sensitive intelligence unit, may get involved in assisting officers if the vehicle is linked in some way to organised crime and there is an ongoing need to obtain more intelligence relating to the vehicle or persons using.
Section 23(5) Information Supplied by or concerning certain Security Bodies
Section 31(3) Law Enforcement
Section 40(5) Personal information
Should it be held, constituents of this information would attract Section 31 and other constituents attract Section 40 of the Act.