Part 4: Police Powers Chapter 1: Pre-charge Bail Section 59: Release without bail: fingerprinting and samples
Where a person is arrested under section 24 of PACE on suspicion of the commission of a recordable offence (generally, an offence punishable with imprisonment), sections 61 and 63 of that Act give the police the power to take fingerprints and a non-intimate DNA sample without the arrested person’s consent. Section 59 modifies those powers to make clear that, where the grounds for detention set out in section 34(2) cease to exist and the person is released without bail, the powers to take DNA and fingerprints – and the supporting power to require the person’s attendance at a police station under Schedule 2A to PACE – remain available to the police.