UK Offence Report

2 In this paragraph, an “imprisonable offence” means an offence which is punishable with imprisonment in the…

SCHEDULE of The Police (Conduct) (Senior Officers) Regulations 1999

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

2 In this paragraph, an “imprisonable offence” means an offence which is punishable with imprisonment in the case of

a person aged

21 or over.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach SCHEDULE?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Police (Conduct) (Senior Officers) Regulations 1999.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
10 March 1999
In force from
1 April 1999
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision, in pursuance of section 50 of the Police Act 1996, with respect to the conduct of members of police forces and the maintenance of discipline and establish procedures for cases in which a member of a police force may be dealt with by dismissal, requirement to resign or reprimand. These Regulations, by virtue of regulation 3, apply only to senior officers. The Regulations revoke (with savings) the Police (Discipline) (Senior Officers) Regulations 1985 and provide new procedures for dealing with conduct by senior officers which fails to meet the standard set out in the Code of Conduct contained in Schedule 1 to the Police (Conduct) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/730). Regulations 5 and 6 enable the appropriate authority (as defined in regulation 4) to suspend a senior officer in respect of whose conduct a report, complaint or allegation has indicated failure to meet the appropriate standard. Regulations 7 to 10 provide for investigation of such a report, complaint or allegation and for the appropriate authority to deal with the case without a hearing if the senior officer accepts that his conduct did not meet the appropriate standard. Regulations 11 to 14 deal with the preliminary stages prior to a hearing and regulations 15 to 19 with procedure, evidence and attendance at the hearing. Regulation 20 requires the tribunal to make a finding as to the conduct of the officer and report to the appropriate authority with a recommendation as to sanction, if appropriate. Regulation 21 requires the appropriate authority to dismiss the case or record a finding as to the conduct and either impose a sanction or take no further action. Regulation 22 deals with the imposition of sanctions and regulations 23 and 24 deal with reporting to the Secretary of State and providing for the expenses of the hearing. Regulation 25 and the Schedule provide for the Regulations to be modified in the case of special cases of serious conduct of a criminal nature.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source