Border Control Systems and Border Controllers: A Case Study of the British Police Response to Proposals for a Europe Sans Frontières
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679100600106 |
| Date | 01 March 1991 |
| Author | F.E.C. Gregory |
| Published date | 01 March 1991 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
39
III
SECTORAL
STUDIES
Border
Control
Systems
and
Border
Controllers:
A
Case
Study
of
the
British
Police
Response
to
Proposals
for
a
Europe
Sans
Frontières.
F.
E.
C.
Gregory
INTRODUCTION
The
British
Government
is
committed
to
permitting
the
swiftest
possible
movement
of
people,
goods
and
services
across
intra-Community
borders,
so
why
did
the
1988
European
Commission
border
control
proposals
cause
such
a
stir?
After
all
it
was
unusual
to
find,
in
February
1989,
HM
Customs
and
Excise
eagerly
supporting
Open
Government
by
producing
a
special
brief
(’Drugs
Brief
1992’)
on
the
high
percentage
of
detected
illicit
drugs
arriving
in
the
UK
by
routing
from
another
EC
state.
The
British
government’s
objections
were
firstly
that
the
proposals
appeared
to
intrude
into
an
area
of
exclusive
national
competence,
secondly,
that
the
Commission
was
once
again
trying
to
exceed
its
brief
and
thirdly,
that
Britain,
as
an
island-state
found
it
more
practical
and
effective
to
carry
out
entry
controls
actually
at
points
of
entry
rather
than
by
such
post-entry
measures
as
Hotel
register
checks
or
customs
inland
road
blocks.
Academic
studies
of
border
controls
were
conspicuous
by
their
absence.
Literature
on
regional
integration
had
examined
economic,
political
and
security
(military)
implications,
but
police
related tasks
generally
tended
to
be
seen
as
a
governmental
responsibility
which
would
remain
strictly
a
national
matter.
The
exceptions
were
immigration
policies,
which
could
arouse
strong
external
reactions
from
countries
whose
nationals
were
restrained
from
entering
particular
states
and
in
a
more
positive
sense,
the
recognition
since
the
early-1970’s
of
the
need
for
co-operation
between
police
agencies
against
terrorist
groups
crossing
state
boundaries.
In
fact
Anderson
(1989)
is
the
first
book-length
treatment
of
the
full
range
of
issues
and
processes
involved
in
inter-state
police
co-operation.
Other
important
sources
of
information
are
Butt
Philip
(1989)
and
’European
Police
and
Judicial
Systems’.
(Interpol
1988).
This
study
focuses
on
the
reaction
of
the
British
police
service
to
proposals
for
freer
movement
across
intra-community
borders.
It
also
recognises
that,
in
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