The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 No. 1341 (NI. 12)

PART VI N.I. QUESTIONING AND TREATMENT OF PERSONS BY POLICE

Prospective

[F1 Destruction of data relating to persons under 16 not convicted: qualifying offences N.I.

64ZF— (1) This Article applies to material falling within paragraph (2) relating to a person who—

(a) has no previous convictions or only one exempt conviction,

(b) is arrested for or charged with a qualifying offence, and

(c) is aged under 16 at the time of the alleged offence.

(2) Material falls within this paragraph if it is—

(a) fingerprints or impressions of footwear taken from the person in connection with the investigation of the offence, or

(b) a DNA profile derived from a DNA sample so taken.

(3) The material must be destroyed—

(a) in the case of fingerprints or impressions of footwear, before the end of the period of 3 years beginning with the date on which the fingerprints or impressions were taken,

(b) in the case of a DNA profile, before the end of the period of 3 years beginning with the date on which the DNA sample from which the profile was derived was taken (or, if the profile was derived from more than one DNA sample, the date on which the first of those samples was taken).

(4) But if, before the material is required to be destroyed by virtue of this Article, the person is arrested for or charged with a recordable offence—

(a) where the person is aged 18 or over at the time of the alleged offence, the material may be further retained until the end of the period of 6 years beginning with the date of the arrest or charge,

(b) where—

(i) the alleged offence is not a qualifying offence, and

(ii) the person is aged under 18 at the time of the alleged offence,

the material may be further retained until the end of the period of 3 years beginning with the date of the arrest or charge,

(c) where—

(i) the alleged offence is a qualifying offence, and

(ii) the person is aged under 16 at the time of the alleged offence,

the material may be further retained until the end of the period of 3 years beginning with the date of the arrest or charge,

(d) where—

(i) the alleged offence is a qualifying offence, and

(ii) the person is aged 16 or 17 at the time of the alleged offence,

the material may be further retained until the end of the period of 6 years beginning with the date of the arrest or charge,

(e) where—

(i) the person is convicted of the offence,

(ii) the offence is not a qualifying offence,

(iii) the person is aged under 18 at the time of the offence, and

(iv) the person has no previous convictions,

the material may be further retained until the end of the period of 5 years beginning with the date of the arrest or charge.

(5) This Article ceases to have effect in relation to the material if, before the material is required to be destroyed by virtue of this Article, the person—

(a) is convicted of a recordable offence and is aged 18 or over at the time of the offence,

(b) is convicted of a qualifying offence, or

(c) having a previous exempt conviction, is convicted of a recordable offence.]

F1 Arts. 64ZA-64ZN inserted (prosp.) by Crime and Security Act 2010 (c. 17), ss. 15(2), 59(1)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Art. 64ZF(3) modified (2.4.2020) by The Coronavirus (Retention of Fingerprints and DNA Profiles in the Interests of National Security) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/391), regs. 1, 4(3)(b) (with reg. 5)

C2 Art. 64ZF(3) modified (1.10.2020) by The Coronavirus (Retention of Fingerprints and DNA Profiles in the Interests of National Security) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/973), regs. 1(1), 4(3)(b)(4)