Human Rights assessment Commentary on sections Section 84: Detention pending arrival of police
116.Prior to this Act, local bye-laws allowed some harbour authority officials to exercise powers to detain ships whose pilots were suspected to be committing an offence of being impaired by drink or drugs. Section 84 extends this regime to allow marine officials to detain a vessel when they reasonably suspect that a person on board is committing an offence under this Part. However, in order not to affect the operational effectiveness of the armed forces, this section does not apply to ships which are being used for a purpose of Her Majesty’s forces or which form part of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.