Court security officer (England and Wales)

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A court security officer is, in England and Wales, a person employed by either the Lord Chancellor/Secretary of State for Justice (the role was combined in 2007) or a private company as a "court officer" and designated by the Lord Chancellor under section 51 (1) of the Courts Act 2003: [1]

Contents

The Lord Chancellor may appoint such officers and other staff as appear to him appropriate for the purpose of discharging his general duty in relation to the courts.

Powers

Court security officers may search people as they enter the court [2] and remove them if they refuse to be searched. [3]

They can also remove people in order to enable court business to be carried on without interference or delay, maintain order and secure the safety of any person in the court building. [3] Reasonable force may be used in exercise of these powers. [3]

Officers may ask a person to surrender (and failing that seize) property if they believe it may jeopardise the maintenance of order in the court, put the safety of any person in the court building at risk, or may be evidence of, or in relation to, an offence. [4] Property that was taken for one of the first two reasons must be returned as the person leaves the court; property seized because it may be evidence of, or in relation to, an offence may be kept for up to 24 hours to enable a police constable to deal with it. [5]

Court security officers may only exercise their powers when they are "readily identifiable", [1] and assaulting or obstructing a court security officer in execution of his or her duties is an offence. [6]

Duties

According to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) website, their Court Security Officers have the following duties: [7]

According to the HMCTS, in 2018: [8]

Over 350,000 banned items were confiscated or removed by HMCTS security staff.

Officers

Court Security Officers may be Civil Servants who work for the Ministry of Justice - Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), [7] or they may work for a private company, such as G4S [9] or Mitie. [10] [11]

One of their main roles, regardless of employment, is access control and searches of people and possessions on entry. [8]

Appearance and uniform

Generally, Court Security Officers wear uniform and have a smart, professional appearance. MoJ Court Security Officers wear a typical British police/security type uniform: [12]

Royal Courts of Justice ([commonly called the Law Courts] is a court building in London which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales) officers wear a "collar number" and the letters "RCJ". [13]

Mitie Court Security Officers wear their company name on their epaulette as well as "COURT SECURITY OFFICER". [8]

Some officers may wear stab vests. [8]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Courts Act 2003".
  2. ↑ "Courts Act 2003".
  3. 1 2 3 "Courts Act 2003".
  4. ↑ "Courts Act 2003".
  5. ↑ "Courts Act 2003".
  6. ↑ "Courts Act 2003".
  7. 1 2 "7784 - Court Security Officer - MoJ".
  8. 1 2 3 4 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : Court Security: Expect, Inspect, Respect. YouTube .
  9. ↑ "Court Security Officer in Lancaster, United Kingdom | G4S Jobs & Careers".
  10. ↑ "Court Security Officer". Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  11. ↑ "Court Security Officer". Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  12. ↑ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/image_data/file/87030/s960_Going_through_security.jpg [ bare URL image file ]
  13. ↑ https://c8.alamy.com/comp/EWR1YC/london-uk-30th-june-2015-security-personnel-redirect-people-to-other-EWR1YC.jpg [ bare URL image file ]
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