Section 80: Samples
237.Subsection (1) allows officers of the rank of inspector or above to authorise the taking of intimate samples and the compulsory taking of non-intimate samples
238.Subsection (2) provides that intimate samples which may at present only be taken by a registered medical practitioner (samples of blood, semen or other tissue fluid, pubic hair; or a swab taken from a body orifice other than the mouth) may also be taken by a registered nurse.
239.Subsection (3) permits the retaking of impressions if an impression previously taken as part of the investigation is insufficient or of inadequate quality to allow a match to be made.
240.Subsection (4). As with fingerprints, when skin impressions of other parts of the body are taken electronically the device used must have type approval.
241.Subsection (5) makes it clear that the term “analysis” in relation to skin impressions includes comparison and matching. The existing definitions of “footprints or similar impressions” is replaced with a new definition of “skin impression” covering impressions made by any means of parts of the body other than the hand.
242.Subsection (6) sets out circumstances in which samples may be regarded as insufficient (and may therefore be retaken) including where scientific failure inhibits the production of a DNA profile or where the sample has been damaged or destroyed prior to analysis. This would give the police the ability to retake samples if for example the laboratory was damaged by fire or where other unforeseen circumstances prevented the production of a profile from the sample.
