Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014

Powers of search and seizure etc: ports

2 (1) An examining officer may exercise any of the powers under this paragraph in the case of a person at a port whom the officer believes to be there in connection with—

(a) entering or leaving Great Britain or Northern Ireland, or

(b) travelling by air within Great Britain or within Northern Ireland.

(2) The powers are—

(a) to require the person to hand over all travel documents in his or her possession for inspection by the examining officer;

(b) to search for travel documents and to take possession of any that the officer finds;

(c) to inspect any travel document taken from the person and to retain it while its validity is checked;

(d) (subject to paragraph 4) to retain any travel document taken from the person that the examining officer believes to be invalid.

(3) The power under sub-paragraph (2)(b) is a power to search—

(a) the person;

(b) anything that the person has with him or her;

(c) any vehicle in which the examining officer believes the person to have been travelling or to be about to travel.

(4) An examining officer—

(a) may stop a person or vehicle for the purposes of exercising a power under this paragraph;

(b) may if necessary use reasonable force for the purpose of exercising a power under this paragraph;

(c) may authorise a person to carry out on the officer’s behalf a search under this paragraph.