The planners plan and the schemers scheme.
Devising new ways to impinge upon your liberty, they say it will be only used to stop criminals, but you can trust the statist as much as you can a criminal. I place this latest move in the exact same league of Finnish police officers shoving plastic blow whistles into the mouths of law abiding citizens. Though they may catch the odd few drunks, (or at least those who manage to blow over the ridiculously low allowed amount) the overwhelming majority of people stopped however, had their liberties infringed upon.
How police could soon be able to turn cars off remotely ‘at the flick of a switch’ under secret new EU plans
- Secretive committee agreed to develop ‘remote stopping’ device by 2020
- Device ‘to be fitted to all cars’ and allow police to shut off fuel and ignition
- Critics slam ‘draconian’ decision by ‘unaccountable secretive clique’
By MARTIN ROBINSON
PUBLISHED: 11:23 GMT, 30 January 2014 | UPDATED: 12:55 GMT, 30 January 2014
‘Draconian’: EU plans to allow police to shut off any car at will using a device fitted as standard has been criticised today
A secretive EU body has agreed to develop a device to be fitted to all cars allowing police to cut off any engine at will, it emerged today.
Leaked paperwork has revealed the ‘remote stopping’ technology could be activated by a switch in a control room, shutting off the fuel and cutting the ignition.
The device, which could be imposed within a decade, would also allow police to track a vehicle’s movements as well as immobilise it.
The plans were immediately labelled as ‘draconian’ by critics, who questioned whether the Government would be liable if remote kill-switches caused collisions.
According to The Daily Telegraph a group of senior EU officials, including several Home Office mandarins, have signed off the proposal at a secret meeting in Brussels.
‘Cars on the run can be dangerous for citizens,’ the document reportedly says.
‘Criminal offenders will take risks to escape after a crime. In most cases the police are unable to chase the criminal due to a lack of efficient means to stop the vehicle safely.
‘The project will work on a technological solution that can be a “build in standard” for all cars that enter the European market.’
The European Network of Law Enforcement Technologies (Enlets) has proposed a timetable to ensure the technology is fully developed by 2020.
MPs have reacted with fury about the ‘incredible’ and ‘draconian’ proposal.
Some have said that at high speed using this system could be more dangerous than a chase.
Tory MP for Clacton Douglas Carswell said: ‘The price we pay for surrendering our democratic sovereignty is that we are governed by an unaccountable secretive clique.’
Fellow Conservative David Davis added: ‘I would be fascinated to know what the state’s liability will be if they put these devices in all vehicles and one went off by accident whilst a car was doing 70mph on a motorway with a truck behind it resulting in loss of life.’
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: ‘This is an incredible power grab by the EU. It is appalling they are even thinking of it.
‘The EU is opposed to a free society, and wants surveillance and control, not only of countries’ economies and laws but as this move shows, even down to the power to stop a person’s car’.
