Chapter 15 - Offences
89.This Chapter re-enacts in a modern form the specific offences in the 1967 Act in relation to impeding a member of the police from carrying out their duties. Section 90 makes it an offence to assault a person serving with the Police Service, a member of a police force mentioned in subsection (7) who is executing a warrant or acting under powers conferred on that person in Scotland by any enactment, or a member of an international joint investigation team. It is also an offence to resist, obstruct or hinder them. Section 91 provides for an offence of aiding escape from or removing a person from the custody of a constable of the Police Service, a police custody and security officer, a constable of a police force mentioned in section 90(7) who is executing a warrant or acting under powers conferred on that person in Scotland by any enactment, or a member of an international joint investigation team. Both offences have penalties of imprisonment for up to twelve months and/or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum on summary conviction, which is unchanged from the 1967 Act.
90.Section 92 makes it an offence for someone who is not a police constable to impersonate a constable with intent to deceive or to do anything calculated to suggest that they are a constable. It is also an offence to possess articles of police clothing without the permission of the SPA (subsection (2)). A person has a defence to a charge under section 92(2) if he or she can prove that the articles of clothing were obtained lawfully and were in the person’s possession for a lawful purpose. Subsection (4) makes it an offence for a person who is not a constable to wear, without the permission of the SPA, an article of police uniform which so nearly resembles that of a constable as to be calculated to deceive. The penalty on summary conviction of an offence under this section is imprisonment of up to three months or a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale which is unchanged from the 1967 Act.