The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989

General interpretation

2.—(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(1) shall apply to Article 1 and the following provisions of this Order as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(2) In this Order—

“arrestable offence” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 26;

“designated police station” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 36;

“document” has the same meaning as in Part I of the Civil Evidence Act (Northern Ireland) 1971(2);

“intimate search” means a search which consists of the physical examination of a person’s body orifices;

“items subject to legal privilege” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 12;

“parent or guardian” means—

(a)

in the case of a child or young person in the care of the Department of Health and Social Services, that Department; and

(b)

in the case of a child or young person in the care of a Health and Social Services Board, that Board;

“Police Authority” means the Police Authority for Northern Ireland;

“police officer” means a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary or of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve;

“premises” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 25;

“recordable offence” means any offence to which regulations under Article 29 apply;

“serious arrestable offence” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 87;

“statutory provision” has the meaning given in section 1( f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(3);

“the terrorism provisions” means section 14(1) of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989(4) and any provision of Schedule 2 or 5 to that Act conferring a power of arrest or detention;

“terrorism” has the meaning assigned to it by section 20(1) of that Act;

“vessel” includes any ship, boat, raft or other apparatus constructed or adapted for floating on water.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), a person is in police detention for the purposes of this Order if—

(a) he has been taken to a police station after being arrested for an offence or after being arrested under section 14 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 or under paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 to that Act by an examining officer who is a constable; or

(b) he is arrested at a police station after attending voluntarily at the station or accompanying a constable to it,

and is detained there or is detained elsewhere in the charge of a constable.

(4) A person—

(a) who is at a court after being charged; or

(b) who has been taken from a custodial establishment and held in police custody pending his appearance at a court,

is not in police detention for those purposes.

(5) In paragraph (4) “custodial establishment” includes a prison, a young offenders centre, a training school, a remand centre and a remand home.

(1)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

(2)

1971 c. 36 (N.I.)

(3)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

(4)

1989 c. 4