Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024
|
Powers equivalent to member of An Garda Síochána when undertaking investigation | ||
|
209. (1) Where a designated officer is appointed under section 208 (1) to undertake an investigation, any designated officer shall, for the purposes of undertaking, or assisting in, the investigation concerned and any matters ancillary or consequential to such an investigation, have all the powers, immunities and privileges conferred, and all the duties imposed, on any member of An Garda Síochána by or under any enactment or the common law, including those relating to the following matters: | ||
(a) the entry and search of any place (other than a Garda Síochána premises) pursuant to a warrant issued in accordance with law and the seizure of things authorised by the warrant; | ||
(b) the arrest, with or without a warrant, of a person; | ||
(c) the bringing of a charge against a person; | ||
(d) the issue of a summons to a person; | ||
(e) the search of a person and the taking of his or her photograph, fingerprints and palmprints; | ||
(f) the detention and questioning of a person; | ||
(g) the taking of bodily samples or other things from a person for the purpose of forensic testing. | ||
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an enactment conferring a power, immunity or privilege or imposing a duty on a member of An Garda Síochána in relation to any of the matters specified in that subsection applies with the following modifications and any other necessary modifications: | ||
(a) subject to paragraph (c), a reference in the enactment to a member of An Garda Síochána shall be construed as a reference to a designated officer; | ||
(b) a reference in section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 or in the Regulations of 1987 to a member in charge of a Garda Síochána station shall be construed as a reference to a designated officer; | ||
(c) a reference in the enactment to a member of An Garda Síochána not below the rank of inspector shall be construed as a reference to a senior designated officer. | ||
(3) Any person who delays, obstructs or interferes with a designated officer in the exercise of the powers conferred, or the carrying out of the duties imposed, under subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and is liable, on summary conviction, to a class B fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both. | ||
(4) In this section— | ||
“enactment” means a statute or statutory instrument, whether passed or made before or after the passing of this Act or any portion of such a statute or statutory instrument, but does not include any provision of the Offences against the State Acts 1939 to 1998; | ||
“place” includes a dwelling. |