Long title | An Act to consolidate the Police Act 1964, Part IX of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, Chapter I of Part I of the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 and certain other enactments relating to the police. |
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Citation | 1996 c. 16 |
Territorial extent | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 22 May 1996 |
Other legislation | |
Amends | |
Repeals/revokes | |
Amended by | |
Status: Partially repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Text of the Police Act 1996 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
The Police Act 1996 (c. 16) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which defined the current police areas in England and Wales, constituted police authorities for those areas, and set out the relationship between the Home Secretary and the English and Welsh territorial police forces. It replaced the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994, which in turn had replaced the Police Act 1964.
Sections 1 to 35 concern the national and regional organisation of the police force, with slightly differently applicable rules inside and outside London.
Sections 36 to 58 concern the functions of the Secretary of State in setting the police forces' objectives, handling budgets, and making more detailed regulations.
Sections 59 to 64 concern the Police Federation of England and Wales and related rules. Section 64 contains the prohibition (in place since the Police Act 1919) on police becoming members of a trade union which can take strike action, under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The Police Federation was thought to be a substitute, given the potential for civil unrest that might develop if police stopped working to go on strike. This was thought to make the police exceptional, and as an alternative, a system of arbitration to resolve workplace disputes was instituted. The constitution of the Police Federation is set out in the amended Police Federation Regulations 1969. [2]
Sections 65 to 88 concern the rules of the Police Complaints Authority, handling complaints made against the police, and procedures for disciplinary hearings and dismissal of officers.
Section 89(1) creates the offence of assaulting a constable in the execution of his duty. Subsequently, the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 increased the maximum sentence on summary conviction to 12 months. [3]
Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different countries. It ranges from outright prohibition of the exposure of any body parts other than the hands or face to prohibition of exposure of certain body parts, such as the genital area, buttocks or breasts.
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault, which is the act of creating apprehension of such contact.
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by those who hold the office of police constable of a territorial police force.
In the United Kingdom, access by the general public to firearms is subject to some of the strictest control measures in the world. Subject to licensing, members of the public may own rifles and shotguns. However, most handguns have been banned in Great Britain since the Dunblane school massacre in 1996. Handguns are permitted in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man which have their own legislation. Scotland imposes an additional licensing regime on airguns, which is not mirrored in England and Wales.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Picketing is a form of protest in which people congregate outside a place of work or location where an event is taking place. Often, this is done in an attempt to dissuade others from going in, but it can also be done to draw public attention to a cause. Picketers normally endeavor to be non-violent. It can have a number of aims but is generally to put pressure on the party targeted to meet particular demands or cease operations. This pressure is achieved by harming the business through loss of customers and negative publicity, or by discouraging or preventing workers or customers from entering the site and thereby preventing the business from operating normally.
Public intoxication, also known as "drunk and disorderly" and "drunk in public", is a summary offense in some countries rated to public cases or displays of drunkenness. Public intoxication laws vary widely by jurisdiction, but usually require an obvious display of intoxicated incompetence or behavior which disrupts public order before the charge is levied.
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise of those powers. Part VI of PACE required the Home Secretary to issue Codes of Practice governing police powers. The aim of PACE is to establish a balance between the powers of the police in England and Wales and the rights and freedoms of the public. Equivalent provision is made for Northern Ireland by the Police and Criminal Evidence Order 1989 (SI 1989/1341). The equivalent in Scots Law is the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
Common assault is an offence in English law. It is committed by a person who causes another person to apprehend the immediate use of unlawful violence by the defendant. In England and Wales, the penalty and mode of trial for this offence is provided by section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
In the United Kingdom, a fixed penalty notice (FPN) is a notice giving an individual the opportunity to be made immune from prosecution for an alleged criminal offence in exchange for a fee. Fixed penalty notices were introduced in Britain in the 1980s to deal with minor parking offences. Originally used by police and traffic wardens, their use has extended to other public officials and authorities, as has the range of offences for which they can be used.
In Great Britain, the act of engaging in sex as part of an exchange of various sexual services for money is legal, but a number of related activities, including soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, pimping and pandering, are illegal. In Northern Ireland, which previously had similar laws, paying for sex became illegal from 1 June 2015.
In criminal law, the term offence against the person or crime against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person.
The law of Northern Ireland is the legal system of statute and common law operating in Northern Ireland since the partition of Ireland established Northern Ireland as a distinct jurisdiction in 1921. Prior to 1921, Northern Ireland was part of the same legal system as the rest of Ireland.
It is usual for police officers take an oath to uphold the law. The following is a selection from different countries.
Prostitution or sex work in Australia is governed by state and territory laws, which vary considerably. Federal legislation also affects some aspects of sex work throughout Australia, and of Australian citizens abroad.
An immigration officer is a law enforcement official whose job is to ensure that immigration legislation is enforced. This can cover the rules of entry for visa applicants, foreign nationals or those seeking asylum at the border, detecting and apprehending those that have breached the border and removing them, or pursuing those in breach of immigration and criminal laws.
Assaulting a constable in the execution of his duty is a statutory offence of aggravated assault in England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Hong Kong.
The Salmon Act 1986 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which outlines legislation that covers legal and illegal matter within the salmon farming and fishing industries. Among the provisions in the Act, it makes it illegal to "handle salmon in suspicious circumstances", which is defined in law as when one believes, or could reasonably believe, that salmon has been illegally fished or that salmon—that has come from an illegal source—has been received, retained, removed, or disposed of.
The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act addresses policy issues related to attacks on emergency workers, especially government-employed officers, and defines specific offences on such workers. It was introduced to Parliament as a private member's bill by Chris Bryant. The act received Royal Assent on 13 November 2018.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that granted the government emergency powers to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. The act allowed the government the discretionary power to limit or suspend public gatherings, to detain individuals suspected to be infected by COVID-19, and to intervene or relax regulations in a range of sectors to limit transmission of the disease, ease the burden on public health services, and assist healthcare workers and the economically affected. Areas covered by the act included the National Health Service, social care, schools, police, Border Force, local councils, funerals and courts. The act was introduced to Parliament on 19 March 2020, and passed the House of Commons without a vote on 23 March, and the House of Lords on 25 March. The act received royal assent on 25 March 2020.