27.This section allows victims or alleged victims of certain types of offence to specify the gender of the investigating officer who is to carry out the interview. The types of offences are sexual offences; human trafficking; an offence the commission of which involves domestic abuse and stalking.
28.Subsection (4) provides that the investigating officer need not comply with a request for a specified gender of interviewer if doing so would be likely to prejudice the criminal investigation (for example, if the investigation is time critical and no officers of the specified gender are currently available), or if doing so would not be reasonably practicable. Subsection (6) provides that any failure to comply has no effect on any relevant criminal proceedings.
29.The section also allows the Scottish Ministers to modify by order the list of types of offences to which this section applies and the definition of “investigating officer”.