Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order, which comes into force on 1st February 1997, applies the provisions of the sections of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (the Act) which are specified in column 1 of the Schedule, concerning questioning and treatment of persons by the police, to investigations of offences conducted by the Service police under the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 or the Naval Discipline Act 1957 and to persons arrested under any of those Acts. The application of the provisions is subject to the modifications set out in column 2 of the Schedule.
It revokes the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Application to Armed Forces) Order 1985 (as amended), which applied sections 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64 and 117 of the Act with modifications, and substantially re-enacts it. The main change is that authorisation for certain of the procedures should, where possible, be given by a senior authorising policeman rather than by the investigating service policeman himself. Sections 54, 55, 56 and 63A of the Act are being applied with modifications for the first time.
Section 54 makes provision for the search of persons in arrest and for a record to be made of everything that a person in arrest has with him.
Section 55 makes provision for an intimate search to be conducted of a person in arrest subject to certain conditions.
Section 56 makes provision for a person in arrest to have the right to have someone informed of his arrest.
Section 58 makes provision for persons held in arrest, if they so request, to consult a legal adviser without delay, unless delay is authorised for certain limited purposes.
Section 61 makes provision for fingerprints to be taken from a person in arrest, in certain circumstances without his consent.
Section 62 makes provision for intimate samples to be taken from a person in arrest provided he consents, with provision for inferences to be drawn from his refusal to consent.
Section 63 makes provision for non-intimate samples to be taken from a person in arrest, in certain circumstances without his consent.
Section 63A makes provision for service policemen to check samples taken against central police records.
Section 64 provides for the destruction of fingerprints and samples.
Additional definitions are inserted in section 65.
Section 117 provides for the use of reasonable force by service policemen in exercising their powers under the Act.