The Act – Section by Section Part 1 – Police Reform Police Custody and Security Officers
37.Sections 28-30 and schedule 2 set out the arrangements for police custody and security officers and for their certification, and put in place penalties for any person who knowingly provides false or misleading information in relation to certification. These provisions replicate those in the 1967 Act relating to police custody and security officers.
38.Under section 28 the chief constable can certify a member of police staff to be authorised as a police custody and security officer. By virtue of section 29(1), the chief constable can only do so if he or she is satisfied that the member of police staff is a fit and proper person to perform those functions and they have received suitable training to do so. The chief constable can suspend or revoke a certificate if it appears to him or her that the officer is not fit and proper, otherwise the certificate continues until the specified date. The powers and duties of police custody and security officers are as set out in schedule 2, as introduced by section 28(3), and any other enactment or rule of law. They must be readily identifiable as such officers. Section 30 makes it an offence for anyone to provide information enabling themselves or any other individual to be certified as a police custody and security officer if they know that or are reckless as to whether the information is false or misleading. The maximum sentence for anyone guilty of such an offence is a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.