Investigatory Powers Act 2016

80 Police collaboration agreements

(1) This section applies if—

(a) the chief officer of police of an England and Wales police force (“force 1”) has entered into a police collaboration agreement for the purposes of a collaborating police force’s functions under this Part, and

(b) under the terms of the agreement—

(i) a designated senior officer of force 1 is permitted to grant authorisations to officers of the collaborating police force,

(ii) officers of force 1 are permitted to be granted authorisations by a designated senior officer of the collaborating police force, or

(iii) officers of force 1 act as single points of contact for officers of the collaborating police force.

(2) The persons by whom, or to whom, authorisations may be granted (or who may act as single points of contact) under a police collaboration agreement are additional to those persons by whom, or to whom, authorisations would otherwise be granted under this Part (or who could otherwise act as single points of contact).

(3) In a case falling within subsection (1)(b)(i)—

(a) section 61 has effect as if—

(i) in subsection (2) the reference to an officer of the authority were a reference to an officer of the collaborating police force, and

(ii) in subsection (6)(b)(ii) the reference to an officer of the same relevant public authority as an authorised officer included a reference to an officer of force 1,

(b) section 63(3)(d) has effect as if the reference to the relevant public authority concerned were a reference to force 1 and the collaborating police force, and

(c) this Part has effect as if the designated senior officer of force 1 had the power to grant an authorisation to officers of the collaborating police force, and had other functions in relation to the authorisation, which were the same as (and subject to no greater or lesser restrictions than) the power and other functions which the designated senior officer of the collaborating police force who would otherwise have dealt with the authorisation would have had.

(4) In a case falling within subsection (1)(b)(ii)—

(a) section 61 has effect as if—

(i) in subsection (2) the reference to an officer of the authority were a reference to an officer of force 1, and

(ii) in subsection (6)(b)(ii) the reference to an officer of the same relevant public authority as an authorised officer included a reference to an officer of the collaborating police force, and

(b) section 63(3)(d) has effect as if the reference to the relevant public authority concerned were a reference to force 1 and the collaborating police force.

(5) In a case falling within subsection (1)(b)(iii), section 76(4)(b) has effect as if the references to the relevant public authority were references to the collaborating police force.

(6) In this section—

• “collaborating police force”, in relation to a police collaboration agreement, means a police force (other than force 1) whose chief officer of police is a party to the agreement,

• “England and Wales police force” means—

  (a)

  any police force maintained under section 2 of the Police Act 1996 (police forces in England and Wales outside London),

  (b)

  the metropolitan police force, or

  (c)

  the City of London police force,

• “police collaboration agreement” has the same meaning as in section 78 (see subsection (6) of that section),

and references in this section to an England and Wales police force or a police force include the National Crime Agency (and references to the chief officer of police include the Director General of the National Crime Agency).