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UK: Extradition Unit

01 September 1996

The Extradition Unit of London's Metropolitan Police is part of the Organised Crime Group. The Unit has four teams of four police officers, one of the teams deals with extradition between the UK and the Republic of Ireland and International Commissions Rogatoire (letters of request). Requests for extradition come through: diplomatic notes, by government order or from Interpol or other police forces. It Unit also deals with deportations, "returning illegal immigrants to their country of origin". This work is normally carried out by private security firms, like Group 4 Security, but this Unit steps in when "individuals are particularly violent, pose a security threat or have been serving a [prison] sentence with a deportation order at the end of it." Officers in the Unit undergo special training and are expected to have or learn a foreign language. Their duties are not limited to normal working hours: "Dealing with international matters means ignoring one's own "time clock" - to the extent of answering calls at home in the middle of the night. Many officers have their own fax machines linked to a modem or by the Internet to other users. Two telephone lines at home are not unusual." The Job, July 1996.