Clause 5 - X-rays and ultrasound scans: England and Wales
Drugs Bill
9:45 am
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
Perhaps I have not explained my reasoning clearly. Somebody of the rank of inspector should certainly be able to authorise the search with an X-ray or a scan, but the point is that an inspector will not have been present. The suspicion should be acknowledged by providing that any officer with reasonable grounds for such suspicion who is present at the time in question should tell the inspector; the inspector could then make the authorisation. It should be made clear that an officer who witnesses the act of swallowing, or what he believes is an act of concealment in a body cavity, should be the pivotal police officer in the initial stages of the clause. I concede that then someone of the rank of inspector or above should give the final authorisation.