Recordable offence

Not to be confused with notifiable offence.

A recordable offence is any offence in England and Wales where the police must keep records of convictions and offenders on the Police National Computer.[1]

Legislation

The power for police to keep such records is contained in the National Police Records (Recordable Offences) Regulations 2000. This states that a 'crime recordable offence' is an offence which must be recorded as a conviction on the PNC.

Recordable offences include any offence punishable by imprisonment, plus at least 50 non-imprisonable offences,[2] such as:

  • nuisance communications (phone calls, letters)
  • tampering with motor vehicles
  • firearms, air weapons, knives
  • football offences
  • causing harm or danger to children
  • drunkenness
  • poaching
  • failing to provide a specimen of breath, and
  • taking a pedal cycle without owner's consent

A full, lengthy, list of recordable offences is available, provided by ACPO as an Appendix to their Retention Guidelines for Nominal Records on the Police National Computer.[3]

Further police powers

Where a person has been arrested for a recordable offence, police may fingerprint and take non-intimate DNA samples from suspects without authorisation from senior ranks.[4]

Sources

  1. ^ Kobylarz, Thaddeus. "Recordable offence - Law wiki, the wiki for law research". Lawiki.org. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  2. ^ "The National Police Records (Recordable Offences) Regulations 2000". legislaton.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Retention Guidelines for Nominal Records on the Police National Computer" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 14, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
  4. ^ Gray, Andrew. "Types of offences". Trident Ploughshares legal support (England & Wales). Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
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