Officers will be able to check overseas-registered vehicles against EU databases in around 10 seconds, the Home Office has announced, as part of a wider push to disrupt organised crime networks involved in migrant smuggling, drug trafficking and vehicle theft.
The new capability extends the UK's existing participation in the Prüm data-sharing framework, which already covers the exchange of DNA and fingerprint data with European partners. Under the expanded arrangement, police number plate checks on EU-registered vehicles will be processed automatically rather than through individual requests to member states, a process thta previously took days or, in some cases, months according to the Home Office.
Where a match is found, officers will receive vehicle keeper details and other identifying information, and the system will flag vehicles reported stolen. The Home Office said the change would improve intelligence on cross-border crime, allowing forces to identify vehicles repeatedly used in smuggling activity and to map the supply chains behind organised immigration crime.
The rollout will begin with the Police Service of Northern Ireland before extending to forces across the UK "in the coming weeks", and is timed to be operational ahead of the second UK-EU Summit in Brussels.
EU law enforcement authorities will gain corresponding access to UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data, which the Home Office says will support the identification of individuals who flee the UK to evade justice.
The government said all data sharing would take place "in line with UK data protection law and the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement", though the announcement provided no further detail on the legal basis, data minimisation safeguards, or oversight arrangements governing the reciprocal flow of DVLA records to EU authorities.
Detective Chief Constable Peter Ayling, the National Police Chiefs' Council's lead for international crime, described the move as a "welcome addition" to existing international data-sharing capabilities, noting that crime was "increasingly a global issue."
The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners' joint leads on serious organised crime, Surrey PCC Lisa Townsend and Cumbria PFCC David Allen, said the change would support efforts to track the "transnational movements" of those involved in trafficking people, drugs and weapons into the UK.
The Home Office pointed to Operation Mobile 3, a two-week multi-country operation, as evidence of the approach's potential. The operation involved more than 44,000 vehicle checks, leading to the recovery of more than 350 stolen vehicles and 1,000 vehicle parts, and supported action against organised crime networks including 17 suspected migrant smugglers.
