Commentary on Sections Part 12 - Sentencing Chapter 4 : Further provisions about orders under Chapters 2 and 3 Section 197: Meaning of “the responsible officer”
521.This Section defines who the responsible officer is. Under subsection (1)(a), if an order imposes a curfew or exclusion requirement but no other requirement, and if that curfew or exclusion order is electronically monitored, the responsible officer is the person responsible for the electronic monitoring (currently the private sector providers under contract to the Home Office). If an offender is 18 or over and under 25, he may be given an attendance centre requirement. If this is as the only requirement of the order, subsection (1)(b) provides that the responsible officer is the officer in charge of the attendance centre. In all other cases, under subsections (1)(c) and (2), the responsible officer is either an officer of the local probation board, or for offenders under 18 at the time of the order, the responsible officer can be either an officer of the local probation board or a member of a youth offending team. Subsection (3) confers a power on the Secretary of State to amend subsections (1) and (2) by order subject to affirmative procedure, and subsection (4) provides that such an order may provide for the court to decide in individual cases which description of 'relevant officer' is to apply.