This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New Police Bill published
03/10/2005
The new Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, which includes a range of new measures to strengthen police effectiveness and improve community safety, was published today.
In addition, it was confirmed that stealth knives and batons have now been added to the list of offensive weapons which means their manufacture, sale or hire is banned.
The Police Bill builds on proposals set out in the Executive's consultation, Supporting Police, Protecting Communities. It includes provisions which aim to:
- Bring in new measures to tackle knife crime including doubling the maximum penalty for carrying a knife in public from two to four years, giving the police the unconditional power to arrest someone suspected of carrying a knife, and increasing the minimum age for buying a non-domestic knife from 16 to 18
- Introduce football banning orders to tackle football related violence or sectarianism, racism or hatred, at football grounds or other flash points
- Introduce mandatory drug testing and referral, upon arrest, for anyone aged 16 or over, who is suspected of a drugs or drugs-related offence such as theft and shoplifting, to encourage them into treatment earlier and tackle their levels of drug dependence and drug-related crime
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said:
"This Executive is determined to support the police service in its efforts to create safer, stronger communities. We have already delivered record numbers of police officers, supported by record investment in our police forces.
"Today's legislation will ensure the police also have the powers they need to meet the challenges of policing in the 21st century, such as football related violence and knife-related crime and disorder.
"We will also give officers new powers to assist in their day to day work. Including the power to take finger prints while out on the beat - once the new technology is available - and increased powers of arrest for those they believe are carrying a knife in public.
"We will also target the so-called "Mr Bigs" of the crime world by encouraging those accused of crimes to give information and evidence to the police and prosecutors about others involved in serious and organised crime, in return for reduced sentences.
"These new powers will be backed by new measures on accountability and the introduction of a Police Complaints Commissioner will ensure even greater transparency than we have now.
"These measures will ensure the service has the tools as well as the resources to meet the challenges of modern policing so that it can continue to deliver a high level of service to communities and we reduce not just people's experience of crime but also their fear of crime."
Other measures contained in the Bill include:
- Improve the organisation of marches and parades, and enable local authorities to take account of a wider range of factors - such as the views of the community - when considering notifications for public processions
- Strengthen a prosecutor's ability to encourage those accused of crimes to give information to them and the police about others involved in serious and organised crime, to help get more criminals off Scotland's streets
- Enhance other police powers such as the ability to prevent the anti-social use of fireworks and to identify suspects more effectively by giving them the authority to obtain a person's date of birth and to take fingerprints while out on the beat
- Make police complaints more transparent and accountable by setting up a Police Complaints Commissioner to investigation non-criminal complaints against the police
- Establish the new Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA), which will be directly responsible for providing a range of common services to Scottish police forces on a national basis, including the development of a new national forensic science service. This will replace the Scottish Police College and the Scottish Criminal Record Office
- Place the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (formerly the SDEA) on a statuatory footing under the direction and control of its own Director. For the first time, there will also be provision for police officers to be directly recruited to serve in SCDEA - until now, it has had to depend entirely on officers being seconded from Scottish police forces
- Enable incentive payments to be made to special constables who undertake an agreed number of duties in a 12-month period
The banning of stealth knives and batons follows the passage of an order in the Scottish Parliament which came into force on Friday, adding the items to the list of banned offensive weapons specified under the Criminal Justice Act 1988.