Breakdown of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill

Breakdown of the Bill (based on the first version of the Bill HC Bill 5)

 

Part 1: The Serious Organised Crime Agency

Chapter 1 of Part 1 establishes the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), provides for its constitution and defines its functions and general powers and its relationship with Ministers. Chapter 2 of Part 1 enables the Director General of SOCA to designate members of staff of SOCA with some or all of the powers of a constable, a customs officer or an immigration officer. Chapter 3 of Part 1 contains supplementary provision in respect of SOCA. In particular, this Chapter provides for the transfer of staff to SOCA and the procedures for investigating complaints and misconduct.

 

Part 2: Investigations, prosecutions and other measures

Part 2 is divided into 6 Chapters. Chapter 1 enables members of staff of SOCA, police constables or officers of Revenue and Customs, acting under the supervision of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions or the Lord Advocate, to compel people to co-operate with an investigation by producing documents and answering questions. There are safeguards against self-incrimination and for the protection of legal privilege.

 

Chapter 2 places the system by which a defendant can plead guilty and offer Queen's Evidence in return for a discounted sentence on a statutory footing. [This is the “supergrass” provision].

 

Chapter 3 provides for the making of financial reporting orders. Such orders may be imposed as a part of a sentence for certain trigger offences and would enable the financial affairs of serious acquisitive criminals to be monitored from the point of sentence.

 

Chapter 4 places the arrangements for providing protection for witnesses and others on a statutory footing. It places a duty on public authorities to assist protection providers and introduces offences in connection with the unauthorised disclosure of information about protected persons or protection arrangements.

 

Chapter 5 confers delegated powers to enable the Home Secretary and Scottish Ministers to give effect to the EU Framework Decision of July 2003 on the execution of orders freezing property or evidence and to the UN Conventions against Transnational Organised Crime and Corruption.

 

Chapter 6 makes a number of amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to improve the effectiveness of the civil recovery scheme and ease the money laundering reporting requirements on the regulated sector.

 

Part 3: Police powers etc.

 

Part 3 makes a number of changes to police powers set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and extends the powers of Community Support Officers (CSOs) and other persons designated or accredited under the provisions of Part 4 of the Police Reform Act 2002.

 

Clauses 101, 102, 104 and 105 and Schedule 7 revise the framework of arrest and search powers in PACE. In particular they provide for all offences to be arrestable subject to a necessity test.

 

Clause 103 introduces a new offence of failing to obey a police direction to leave an exclusion area which has been imposed under the requirements of a person's sentence following a criminal conviction.

 

Clause 106 extends the powers of the police, in section 1 of PACE, to stop and search persons suspected of carrying prohibited fireworks.

 

Clauses 107 to 109 enable the police to take photographs and fingerprints of persons away from a police station and to take impressions of persons' footwear at a police station. The power to take photographs is extended to CSOs and accredited persons in limited circumstances. Clause 110 amends the definition of an intimate and non-intimate sample.

 

Clauses 111 and 112 create a new category of designated person under the Police Reform Act, namely 'staff custody officer', thereby enabling police staff to undertake custody functions previously restricted to police officers.

 

Clauses 113 to 114 and Schedules 8 and 9 extend the powers of CSOs, other designated police staff and accredited persons and enable police staff to access certain information relating to drivers, vehicle registration plate suppliers and motor insurance.

 

Part 4: Public order and conduct in public places etc. [This is the section primarily concerned with animal rights activists].

 

Part 4 strengthens the protection afforded by the criminal and civil law against acts of harassment, incitement to religious hatred, trespass on sites of national importance and disruptive behaviour in the vicinity of Parliament.

 

Clauses 116 to 118 amend the Protection of Harassment Act 1997 and Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 to prohibit intimidating conduct designed to stop persons going about their lawful business, introduce a new offence of harassment of a person in his home and confer additional powers on the police to issue directions for the purpose of stopping harassment of a person in his home. 

 

Clause 119 and Schedule 10 extend the racial hatred offences in Part 3 of the Public Order Act 1988 to cover religious hatred. 

 

Clause 120 to 122 introduce a new arrestable offence of trespass on sites designated by the Secretary of State. [This deals with trespass on, for example, the royal estate.

 

Clauses 123 and 124 confer additional powers on the police to control behaviour that hinders access to or is disruptive of the workings of Parliament or otherwise spoils the visual aspect of Parliament Square or its environs. [The “Brian Haw” clause].

 

Clauses 125 to 128 contain provisions relating to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs). In particular, they lift the automatic reporting restrictions in Youth Courts in relation to proceedings for breach of an ASBO.

 

Part 5: Miscellaneous

 

Clauses 129 to 131 introduce a new offence of using an incorrectly registered vehicle and confer powers on the police to require the production of vehicle registration documents and to seize vehicles driven without insurance. Clauses 132 and 133 enable payments to be made to police authorities in relation to the enforcement of certain traffic offences; such payments would be funded from revenue from fixed penalty notices. [This implements the provisions of the Greenway report on uninsured driving].

 

Clause 134 requires police authorities to publish an annual "local policing summary" and confers powers on the Home Secretary to set minimum requirements in respect of the information to be included in such summaries.

 

Clause 135 provides that liability for breaches of health and safety legislation by police forces will normally rest with the office of Chief Constable rather than with the office holder.

 

Clauses 136 and Schedules 11 amend Part 2 of the Police Reform Act 2002 which sets out the framework for the investigation of complaints against and misconduct by police officers and police staff. The amendments provide that disciplinary action may, in certain serious cases, be taken against a police officer before the point at which an investigation into a complaint or misconduct relating to that officer would normally be completed. Clause 137 and Schedule 12 provide for the investigation of death and serious injuries where there is no suggestion of misconduct.

 

Clauses 138 and 139 and Schedule 13 provide for the abolition of the Royal Parks Constabulary and for the transfer of responsibility for policing the Royal Parks to the Metropolitan Police.

 

Clauses 140 to 144 and Schedule 14 make amendments to Part 5 of the Police Act 1997 which sets out the framework under which the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Disclosure Scotland operate. In particular, the amendments extend the range of law enforcement agencies from whom non-conviction information may be obtained and enable the CRB and Disclosure Scotland to access passport, driving licence and national insurance number data in order to verify the identity of applicants for a criminal record disclosure.

 

Clauses 145 and 146 alter one of the tests for the issue, by the courts, of a witness summons.

 

Clause 147 and Schedule 15 extend the provisions of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 to Scotland and thereby provide for the licensing by the Security Industry Authority of security operatives in Scotland.

 

Part 6: Final provisions

 

Part 6 deals with the making of orders and regulations under the Bill, contains consequential amendments and repeals of existing legislation, and provides for the commencement of the Bill. It also contains a free-standing power to make supplementary, incidental or consequential provisions, including a power to amend primary and secondary legislation.