UK Offence Report

Causing disaffection

article 9(1) of The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2013

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

1 It is an offence—

a to cause disaffection amongst the members of

a relevant police force; or

b to induce

a member of

a relevant police force to withhold services.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 article 9(1)?

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 and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2013.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
12 March 2013
In force from
1 April 2013
Extent
E+W+S+NI

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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes provision in consequence of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (“the 2012 Act”). Part 1 contains the extent and interpretation provisions. Part 2 of the Order makes provision in relation to the Police. Provision is made so that the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner may enter into agreements with various law enforcement bodies for the Commissioner to investigate serious incidents which take place in Scotland involving officers of those bodies. It also provides that the Commissioner may investigate criminal conduct involving a person serving with one of those bodies where directed to do so by the Lord Advocate in his capacity as head of the system of criminal investigations and prosecutions in Scotland. Mutual assistance between the Police Service of Scotland and the British Transport Police Force (“BTP”) in response to special demands placed on them is also included, along with power to enter into collaboration agreements between the Police Service of Scotland and the BTP, Civil Nuclear Constabulary (“CNC”) or Ministry of Defence Police (“MDP”) so that functions or resources may be exercised or deployed jointly where that may be efficient or advantageous. The criminal offence of causing disaffection amongst members of the Police Service of Scotland, the BTP or CNC is created. The offences of assaulting or impeding a member of a police force and escape from custody contained in the 2012 Act are applied to the CNC and MDP. Other provision in Part 2 includes power for the Secretary of State and Scottish Ministers to make grants to the Scottish Police Authority in connection with safeguarding of national security. Particular provision in relation to independent custody visiting for terrorism detainees and the refusal of access to any detainee where there are urgent and compelling national defence grounds is made. Express power is given to make it clear that goods and services may be provided outwith Scotland under section 87 of the 2012 Act. There is saving provision in relation to pensions for police officers and cadets on various types of service and power for the Scottish Ministers to make pension provision for special constables and police cadets of the Police Service of Scotland. Part 3 of the Order makes provision in relation to fire and rescue. In particular, provision is made which permits the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (“SFRS”) to provide assistance to fire and rescue authorities in England and Wales or the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service in the carrying out of their functions. Provision is also made which permits reciprocal assistance to be provided by those services to SFRS. The Order ensures that in all cases a fire-fighter assisting a service in another part of the UK has the powers and protections necessary to carry out that function. Part 4 and Schedules 1 and 2 to the Order make provision for consequential amendments to primary and secondary legislation in consequence of the establishment of the new Police Service of Scotland and SFRS. Schedule 3 makes transitional and saving provision in connection with that establishment and the consequential amendments.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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