Police Information

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND POLICE BILL

Sun, May 20, 2001

Source:

The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 received Royal Assent today.

 

The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 received Royal Assent today.

The Act will provide for a range of measures relating to law enforcement and police organisation, including:

allowing the indefinite retention of all DNA samples and fingerprints taken from suspects;

• Allowing the retention of fingerprints or samples given voluntarily for the purposes of elimination where the volunteer gives their written consent;
• Introducing penalty notices for disorderly offending;
  restricting drinking in certain public places;
• Closing disorderly licensed premises;
• Closing unlicensed drinking premises;
• Preventing the sale of alcohol to underage drinkers;
• Introducing travel restriction orders for convicted drug traffickers;
• Making it a criminal offence to intimidate or harm witnesses in civil proceedings;
• Extending child curfews to older children and allowing the police to make child curfew schemes;
• Extending police powers relating to seizure of property;
• Making kerb crawling and 'hit and run' arrestable offences;
• Making the importation of indecent and obscene material a serious arrestable offence;
• Allowing an extension of detention under the Terrorism Act 2000 by video link;
• Allowing the use of telephone and video links for police detention decisions;
• Allowing the video taping of police interviews with suspects;
• Allowing more flexible piloting of amendments to PACE codes of practice;
• Allowing nurses to take intimate forensic samples;
• Creating the Central Police Training and Development Authority;
• Replacing levy funding of NCIS and NCS with direct grant, and altering the constitution of their Service Authorities;
•  Reintroducing the ranks of deputy chief constable and chief superintendent; and

Requiring the courts to give reasons when granting bail against prosecution advice.

A number of provisions were added to the Bill during its Parliamentary passage, including:

• Measures relating to intimidation (giving the police powers to move protests at residential premises, amending the Companies Act 1985 in respect of the availability of directors' and company secretaries' home addresses and amending the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988);
• Extending section 8(d) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to cover all controlled drugs;
• Making it a criminal offence to advertise prostitutes' services in 'phone boxes;
  giving the new Criminal Records Bureau the power to refuse applications from organisations or individuals to become registered bodies if they appear to be bogus; and
• Extending the criteria for secure remands of persistent juvenile offenders and introducing powers to tag juveniles on bail.
  
  Provisions relating to information disclosures by the Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise and other public authorities, and measures to remove the right to silence in police disciplinary proceedings were removed from the Bill.
  
  The Act is published on the Internet at www.hmso.gov.uk/acts.
  
  The Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 18 January 2001 (Home Office press notice 016/01, 19 January 2001). It completed its Parliamentary passage on 10 May 2001.
  
  Some of the provisions in the Act (measures relating to protests outside homes, amendments to the Malicious Communications Act and the measures allowing retention and use of DNA samples and fingerprints) will come into force on Royal Assent. Other provisions will be brought into force later by commencement order.