Clause 73 - Urgent investigative steps
Criminal Justice Bill
5:21 pm
Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman has helpfully outlined the difficulties with the clause. Under what circumstances would it be appropriate to use clause 73, rather than clause 72? It is hard to envisage circumstances that would not constitute the commission of a new offence, in which case no authorisation would be needed for the police to take action.
That part of me that relates back to my involvement with the police thinks that, were such a situation to arise, it would be rank inflation to require authorisation by someone of the rank of chief constable. If urgent action was needed, the superintendent would be the appropriate district commander and available officer of sufficient
seniority to authorise the investigation. My problem is that I cannot envisage circumstances in which it could or should be used, given that this is an exceptional process in every way, which Parliament may or may not be prepared to sanction under limited terms and with sufficient safeguards.
The clause effectively overrides that process and introduces a further exception to the exception. The Minister may have clear examples in mind of the circumstances in which the police would be unable to make appropriate investigations in relation to the current offence, especially to prevent death or serious personal injury. I would have thought that there were clear grounds in such a case for a police officer to take action, irrespective of whether someone had been acquitted in a previous trial. The Minister may have examples in mind of the circumstances in which the police should be able to take action without following the proper procedures in clause 72.
I am not sure whether I entirely support the amendments in their present form, but they provide a helpful vehicle for investigating the Minister's thinking on the subject. My inclination is to reject the entire clause, unless he has a sufficiently compelling and reliable argument in support of it.