USA and UK police-to-police agreement to improve information sharing

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.”