Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act searches

As part of our membership of the National Best Use of Stop and Search scheme, changes have been made to the way the Force uses and authorises searches under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1984.

The five key changes are

• raising the level of authorisation from Inspector to chief officer rank
• raising the threshold from ‘may’ to ‘will’ reasonably anticipate violence, so an officer must reasonably believe that an incident involving serious violence will take place
• in all cases, an authority must only be granted when it is necessary to do so, rather than just expedient
• limiting the duration of initial authorisations to 15 hours (from the previous 24hrs)
• effectively communicating to the public where there is a Section 60 authorisation in place beforehand (if practicable) and afterwards, so that the public is kept informed of the purpose and success of the operation

Links to relevant webpages

• PACE Code A (Revised, effective from 19 March 2015)
• s1 PACE 1984
• s23 Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
• s47 Firearms Act 1968
• s60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994 [Note: the requirements of the ‘Best Use’ scheme are more stringent than the statute. The ‘Best Use’ scheme requirements should be complied with.]
• Schedule 4, s5, 6, 7, 7A, 7B & 7C, Police Reform Act 2002