Recordable offence

A recordable offence is any offence under United Kingdom law where the police must keep records of convictions and offenders on the Police National Computer.^[1]

A 'crime recordable offence' should not be confused with a 'Notifiable Offence'.

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 a number of non-imprisonable offences, such as:

• prostitution
• nuisance communications (phone calls, letters)
• tampering with motor vehicles
• firearms, air weapons, knives
• football offences
• causing harm or danger to children
• drunkenness
• poaching
• squatting
• 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

Sources

External links

• Recordable Offences - Statutelaw.gov.uk
• Text of the National Police Records (Recordable Offences) Regulations 2000 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database