Section 36: Power to stop and search persons
Subsections (1) and (2) confer powers to stop and search persons on a police or customs officer. The power is engaged where the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person has committed, or is likely to commit, an offence under any of sections 4 to 9 and 26 of the Act. As the Act does not provide for a simple possession offence, there is no power to stop and search where an officer suspects that a person has in his or her possession a psychoactive substance intended for personal use; the officer will need to have reasonable grounds to suspect that the person has committed or is likely to commit an offence under the Act, for example, the person is likely to commit the offence of possession with intent to supply a psychoactive substance. A police or customs officer may also detain a stopped person for the purpose of carrying out the search.
	The term "police or customs officer" is defined for the purposes of the Act in subsection (4) to include NCA officers designated with the powers and privileges of a constable or officer of Revenue and Customs (see the definition in section 59(1)) and authorised by the Director General of the NCA to exercise the powers of a police or customs officer under the Act. The intention is that NCA officers designated with the powers and privileges of a constable and/or the powers of an officer of Revenue and Customs (under section 10 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013) will have access to the powers contained in the Act. The scheme in the Crime and Courts Act 2013 operates in such a way that an NCA officer designated with the powers and privileges of a constable, officer of Revenue and Customs, or both would automatically be able to exercise the powers of a constable and/or Revenue and Customs officer (as the case may be), as conferred under statute or common law. The reference to an NCA officer in subsection (4) is drafted in such a way as to ensure that it is consistent with that general approach.
	The stop and search powers are exercisable in any place to which the police or customs officer has access, this will include any public place and any premises that are the subject of a search warrant issued under section 39 or under any other enactment (for example, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 ("PACE")).
	The power of a constable in England and Wales to stop and search under this section engages certain safeguards under Part 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 ("PACE") or, in Northern Ireland, under Part II of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 ("PACE NI"), including:
The constable need not search a detained person if it subsequently appears to him or her: (i) that no search is required; or (ii) that a search is impracticable (section 2(1) of PACE and Article 4(1) of PACE NI).
Where the constable contemplates a search, he or she is under a duty to take reasonable steps before he or she commences the search to bring to the attention of the detained person (section 2(2) and (3) of PACE and Article 4(2) and (3) of PACE NI) —
If the officer is not in uniform, documentary evidence that he or she is a constable; and whether he or she is in uniform or not, the matters specified below:
the constable’s name and the name of the police station to which he or she is attached;
the object of the proposed search;
the constable’s grounds for proposing to make it; and
the detained person’s right to receive a record of any search conducted (section 3(7) of PACE and Article 5(7) of PACE NI).
A constable has no power to require a detained person to remove any of his or her clothing in public other than an outer coat, jacket or gloves (section 2(9)(a) of PACE and Article 4(10) of PACE NI).
A constable must make a record of the search in writing unless it is not practicable to do so. Where it is not practical to make a record at the time, the constable must do so as soon as practicable after the completion of the search (section 3(1) and (2) of PACE and Article 5(1) and (2) of PACE NI).
The provisions of the Code of Practice made under section 66 of PACE or Article 66 of PACE NI).