Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014

Powers to search persons

3 In paragraph 8 of Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000, after sub-paragraph (3) there is inserted—

“(4) An intimate search of a person may not be carried out under this paragraph.

(5) A strip search of a person may not be carried out under this paragraph unless—

(a) the person is detained under paragraph 6,

(b) the examining officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is concealing something which may be evidence that the person falls within section 40(1)(b), and

(c) the search is authorised by a senior officer who has not been directly involved in questioning the person.

(6) “Senior officer” means—

(a) where the examining officer is a constable, a constable of a higher rank than the examining officer,

(b) where the examining officer is an immigration officer, an immigration officer of a higher grade than the examining officer, and

(c) where the examining officer is a customs officer, a customs officer of a higher grade than the examining officer.

(7) In this paragraph—

• “intimate search” means a search which consists of a physical examination of a person’s body orifices other than the mouth;

• “strip search” means a search which is not an intimate search but involves the removal of an article of clothing which—

  (a)

  is being worn wholly or partly on the trunk, and

  (b)

  is being so worn either next to the skin or next to an article of underwear.”