united-kingdom criminal-law england-and-wales definition arrest
What is a recordable offence and can you refuse to give your DNA and fingerprints to the police?
<p>What is the essence of a recordable offence and what happens if you decline consent to give your DNA and fingerprints in the station?</p>
<p>What provisions define the notion of a recordable offence? What are the implications of something being a recordable offence versus not being one and what is the purpose of certain offences being deemed recordable ones?</p>

<p><strong>What provisions define the notion of a recordable offence?</strong></p>
<p>A Recordable Offence is one that falls within the scope of the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/1139/contents/made" rel="nofollow noreferrer">National Police Records (Recordable Offences) Regulations 2000</a> (as amended <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/primary+secondary?title=Recordable%20Offences" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2003 to 2016</a>) that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>provide for the recording in national police records of convictions, cautions, reprimands, and warnings for the offences specified in the Schedule and for any offence which is punishable with imprisonment in the case of an adult.</p>
<p>[<em>note, the schedule is far too long to repoduce here</em>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Or, in other words, one where...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>...the police are required to keep a record. Generally speaking, these are crimes for which an individual could be sentenced to a term of imprisonment or they have otherwise been made recordable by statute. The term also includes a number of non-imprisonable offences for example begging and illegal taxi touting. The police are not able to take or retain the biometric information of an individual who is arrested for an offence which is not recordable.</p>
<p>[<em>Source: <a href="https://www.acro.police.uk/Explanation-of-Terms" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ACRO Criminal Records Office</a></em>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>What are the implications of something being a recordable offence versus not being one and what is the purpose of certain offences being deemed recordable ones?</strong></p>
<p>The police can take fingerprints and non-intimate DNA samples (say from plucked head hair or a mouth swab) from someone arrested for a recordable offence without their consent, as per <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/section/61?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 61</a> Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 for fingerprints:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(3) The fingerprints of a person detained at a police station may be taken without the appropriate consent if—</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(a) he is detained in consequence of his <strong>arrest for a recordable offence</strong>; and</p>
</li>
<li><p>(b) he has not had his fingerprints taken in the course of the investigation of the offence by the police.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>And <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/section/63?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 63</a> for DNA samples:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(2A) A non-intimate sample may be taken from a person without the appropriate consent if two conditions are satisfied.</p>
<p>(2B) The first is that the person is in police detention in consequence of his <strong>arrest for a recordable offence</strong>.</p>
<p>(2C) The second is that—</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(a) he has not had a non-intimate sample of the same type and from the same part of the body taken in the course of the investigation of the offence by the police, or</p>
</li>
<li><p>(b) he has had such a sample taken but it proved insufficient.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/section/65?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 65(1)</a></p>
<p>provides these definitions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>&quot;fingerprints”, in relation to any person, means a record (in any form and produced by any method) of the skin pattern and other physical characteristics or features of—</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(a) any of that person’s fingers; or</p>
</li>
<li><p>(b) either of his palms;</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>“intimate sample” means—</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(a) a sample of blood, semen or any other tissue fluid, urine or pubic hair;</p>
</li>
<li><p>(b) a dental impression;</p>
</li>
<li><p>(c) a swab taken from any part of a person's genitals (including pubic hair) or from a person's body orifice other than the mouth;</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>“non-intimate sample” means—</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(a) a sample of hair other than pubic hair;</p>
</li>
<li><p>(b) a sample taken from a nail or from under a nail;</p>
</li>
<li><p>(c) a swab taken from any part of a person's body other than a part from which a swab taken would be an intimate sample;</p>
</li>
<li><p>(d) saliva;</p>
</li>
<li><p>(e) a skin impression;</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>[...]</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>What happens if you decline consent to give your DNA and fingerprints in the station?</strong></p>
<p>If one is at the station under arrest for a recordable offence, then <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/section/117?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 117</a> allows a constable to use <em>reasonable force</em> if the suspect refuses to co-operate:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Where any provision of this Act—</p>
<ul>
<li>(a) confers a power on a constable; and</li>
</ul>
<p>*(b) does not provide that the power may only be exercised with the consent of some person, other than a police officer,</p>
<p>the officer may use <strong>reasonable force, if necessary</strong>, in the exercise of the power.</p>
</blockquote>
