Section 39Part 4 — Powers, Duties and Privileges of Police Officers
Use of fingerprints and other samples
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39. (1) Where a person has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in an arrestable offence or has been charged with such an offence or has been informed that that person will be reported for such an offence, any fingerprints, footprints, impressions of footwear or samples or the information derived from samples taken under any power conferred by this Part from the person may be checked against —
other fingerprints, footprints, impressions of footwear or samples to which the person seeking to check has access and which are held by or on behalf of, any one or more relevant law-enforcement authorities or which are held in connection with or as a result of an investigation of an offence; or Section 39 Police Act (2021 Revision) Page 32 Revised as at 31st December, 2020 c
information derived from other samples if the information is contained in records to which the person seeking to check has access and which are held as mentioned in paragraph (a).
Fingerprints taken by virtue of section 34(9) may be checked against other fingerprints to which the person seeking to check has access and which are held by or on behalf of any one or more relevant law-enforcement authorities or which are held in connection with or as a result of an investigation of an offence.
In subsections (1) and (2) “relevant law-enforcement authorities” means —
any police service within or outside of the Islands;
any person with functions in any country or territory outside the Islands which —
correspond to those of a police force; or to the law of that country or territory, or the apprehension of persons guilty of such conduct; or
otherwise consist of or include the investigation of conduct contrary
any person with functions under any international agreement which consist of or include the investigation of conduct which is —
unlawful under the law of one or more places; and, in addition, functions which consist of or include the apprehension of persons guilty of such conduct.
prohibited by such an agreement; or
contrary to international law,
Where —
fingerprints, footprints, impressions of footwear or samples have been taken from any person in connection with the investigation of an offence other than in circumstances to which subsection (1) applies; and
that person has given that person’s consent in writing to the use in a random search of the fingerprints, footprints, impressions of footwear or any of the samples and of information derived from them, the fingerprints, footprints, impressions of footwear or, as the case may be, those samples and that information may be checked against any of the fingerprints, footprints, impressions of footwear, samples or information mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b).
A consent given for the purposes of subsection (4) shall not be capable of being withdrawn.
Where a sample of hair other than pubic hair is to be taken, the sample may be taken either by cutting hairs or by plucking hairs with their roots so long as no Police Act (2021 Revision) Section 39 c Revised as at 31st December, 2020 Page 33 more are plucked than the person taking the sample reasonably considers to be necessary for a sufficient sample.
Where any power to take a sample is exercisable in relation to a person the sample may be taken in a prison or other institution to which the Prisons Act (2021 Revision) applies.
Where —
the power to take a non-intimate sample under section 37(5) is exercisable in relation to any person who is detained under section 7 or 8 of the Mental Health Act (2021 Revision); or
the power to take a non-intimate sample under section 37(6) is exercisable in relation to any person, the sample may be taken in the hospital in which the person is detained.
A police officer may, within the allowed period, require a person who is neither in police detention nor held in custody by the police on the authority of a court to attend a police station in order to have a sample taken where —
the person has been charged with an arrestable offence or informed that the person will be reported for such an offence and either the police officer has not had a sample taken from that person in the course of the investigation of the offence by the police or the police officer has had a sample so taken from that person but either it was not suitable for the same means of analysis or, though so suitable, the sample proved insufficient; or
the person has been convicted of an arrestable offence and either the police officer has not had a sample taken from that person since the conviction or the police officer has had a sample taken from that person, before or after that person’s conviction, but either it was not suitable for the same means of analysis or, though so suitable, the sample proved insufficient.
The period allowed for requiring a person to attend a police station for the purpose specified in subsection (9) is —
in the case of a person falling within paragraph (a), one month beginning with the date of the charge, or of that person’s being informed as mentioned in that paragraph, or one month beginning with the date on which the appropriate officer is informed of the fact that the sample is not suitable for the same means of analysis or has proved insufficient, as the case may be; or
in the case of a person falling within paragraph (b), one month beginning with the date of the conviction or one month beginning with the date on which the appropriate officer is informed of the fact that the sample is not suitable for the same means of analysis or has proved insufficient, as the case may be. Section 40 Police Act (2021 Revision) Page 34 Revised as at 31st December, 2020 c
A requirement under subsection (9) —
shall give the person at least seven days within which that person shall so attend; and
may direct that person to attend at a specified time of day or between specified times of day.
A police officer may arrest without a warrant a person who has failed to comply with a requirement under subsection (9).
Where a person has failed to comply with a requirement under subsection (9) that person commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of three thousand dollars or to imprisonment for one year, or to both.
In this section “the appropriate officer” is —
in the case of a person falling within subsection (9)(a), the police officer investigating the offence with which that person has been charged or as to which the person was informed that that person would be reported; or
in the case of a person falling within subsection (9)(b), the police officer in charge of the police station from which the investigation of the offence of which the person was convicted was conducted.