Commentary on Sections Retention and use of fingerprints and samples Section 14 – Material subject to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
47.Subsection (2) amends section 63A(1) of PACE to allow samples (fingerprints, impressions of footwear or DNA samples) taken under PACE to be checked against other samples held by or on behalf of the Security Service (MI5) or the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6 or SIS). The section adds a similar power to check information derived from other samples against that information derived from material held by the Security Services or the Secret Intelligence Service. Samples may be taken from a person under PACE if the person is suspected of being involved with a recordable offence, has been charged with a recordable offence or informed that he will be reported for such an offence, or, following the amendments made by section 10, if he is subject to a control order.
48.Subsection (3) amends section 63A(1ZA) of PACE similarly to allow the cross checking against material held by the Security Service or the Secret Intelligence Service of material taken from a person under section 61(6A), which allows a constable to take a person’s fingerprints etc. if the person’s name cannot be ascertained or if the constable believes the person has given a false name.
49.Subsection (5) inserts a new subsection (1AB) into section 64 of PACE that sets out the purposes for which samples can be used. The section expands the uses to permit samples to be used in the interest of national security as well as for the purposes already listed in section 64, which are purposes related to the prevention or detection of crime, the investigation of an offence or the conduct of a prosecution, or for purposes relating to the identification of a deceased person or the person from whom the material came.