The Home Office ran a review on the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) from 2008-10-13 til 2008-11-28. One of its proposals is about police use of short term holding facilities (STHF) located in shopping centres or town centres to detain suspects in order to take their fingerprints, photograph and DNA samples. A summary of responses to this specific proposal would be useful in the context of the current parliamentary debates and committees' investigations into the measures of the Crime and Security bill.
For some unstated reason, the responses to this consultation appear to be extremely difficult to summarise! Here's the 'What's new' section of the PACE Review consultation progress page as it was first created in July 2009:
What's New
10 July 2009
The government’s proposals in response to the Review of PACE (new window) were subject to a 3 month public consultation at the end of 2008. The summary of responses and the table of respondents summarised comments will be published here before the end of August 2009.
In September 2009, I queried when the Home Office was realistically expecting to publish these summaries. The Policing Powers and Protection Unit (PPPU) of the Home Office responded that '[t]he draft document is currently being considered by the PACE Review Board and we will look to publish as soon as possible.' The website was then silently updated:
What's New
10 July 2009
The government’s proposals in response to the Review of PACE (new window) were subject to a 3 month public consultation at the end of 2008. The summary of responses and the table of respondents summarised comments will be published here before the end of autumn.
Earlier this month (January 2010), I queried the Home Office, again, about the publication of these summaries and was informed that '[t]he Summary of responses is currently with Ministers and PACE Strategy Board Members. As soon as we have received feedback on the document we will make it available on the Home Office website. In the mean time I will ensure that the website is updated to reflect the delay.' Last week, the page was silently updated:
What's New
10 July 2009
The government’s proposals in response to the Review of PACE (new window) were subject to a 3 month public consultation at the end of 2008. The summary of responses and the table of respondents summarised comments will be published here in early 2010.
A Freedom of Information response revealed that 187 organisations and 18 individuals responsed to this PACE Review consultation. Of the twelve Home Office consultations for which I received data, it's only in seven position for the total number of respondents, so nothing that should overwhelm the Home Office. With more than twice the total number of respondents, it took just three months to publish the summaries of responses for the Keeping the right people on the DNA database consultation (which closed eight months later).
It is awfully nice of the Home Office to update its website every time I contact them about this consultation. It's curious that they're so forgetful about updating the date of the what's new section. It would, however, be even more helpful for the summary of responses to emerge from the reviews by the PACE Review Board, the PACE Strategy Board, the Ministers, etc. and get published for all to read.
Update: the Home Office has eventually published a Summary of responses to the public consultation on the Review of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PDF). The document is dated March 2010. Its Annex A contains six pages of proposed legislative changes. Among these, a draft guidance about the Short Term Holding Facilities will be circulated in Spring 2010; 'Proposals to arrest [and obviously take a DNA sample] without warrant, detention, transportation and bail between home jurisdictions' are 'Awaiting a suitable legislative vehicle'. The PACE Review consultation progress page has not yet been updated and still displays its July 2009 news.
First published on 2010-01-25; last updated on 2010-03-05.