Policing of Airports Act 1974
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1974 c. 41 |
| Year | 1974 |
Policing of Airports Act 1974
1974 CHAPTER 41
An Act to make provision for enabling the policing of any airport designated for that purpose to be undertaken by the police force for the area in which it is wholly or mainly situated; and for connected purposes.
[31st July 1974]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Designated airports.
(1) The Secretary of State may by order designate for the purposes of this Act any aerodrome used for the purposes of civil aviation if he considers that the policing of that aerodrome should, in the interests of the preservation of the peace and the prevention of crime, be undertaken by constables under the direction and control of the chief officer of police for the police area in which the aerodrome is wholly or mainly situated.
(2) Before making an order under subsection (1) above in relation to any aerodrome the Secretary of State shall consult the aerodrome authority and the police authority and chief officer of police for the police area in question.
(3) The power to make an order under subsection (1) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument and—
(a ) any order containing a statement that it is made with the consent of the authorities mentioned in subsection (2) above shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament;
(b ) any order not containing such a statement shall be laid before Parliament in draft and shall not be made unless the draft is approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.
(4) Any order under subsection (1) above may be revoked by a subsequent order, and subsections (2) and (3) above shall apply to any such subsequent order as they apply to an order under subsection (1) above.
(5) In this Act ‘designated airport’ means any aerodrome for the time being designated under this section and ‘relevant police area’ and ‘relevant constable’, in relation to any aerodrome, mean respectively the police area in which the aerodrome is wholly or mainly situated and any constable under the direction and control of the chief officer of police for that area.
2 Exercise of police functions at designated airports.
(1) So long as any aerodrome is a designated airport—
(a ) any relevant constable shall, when acting in the execution of his duty and, in particular, for the purpose of exercising the powers conferred on such a constable by or under the subsequent provisions of this Act, be entitled as against the aerodrome authority to enter any part of the aerodrome; and
(b ) no member of any aerodrome constabulary maintained by that authority shall have the powers and privileges or be liable to the duties and responsibilities of a constable on the aerodrome or exercise there any power conferred by or under any enactment on members of that constabulary or on constables generally.
(2) Paragraph (a ) of subsection (1) above is without prejudice to any right of entry existing apart from that paragraph.
(3) The aerodrome authority of an aerodrome which is a designated airport shall—
(a ) make to the police authority for the relevant police area such payments in respect of the policing of the aerodrome, and
(b ) provide, for use in connection with the policing of the aerodrome, such accommodation and facilities,
as those authorities may agree or as may, in default of agreement, be determined by the Secretary of State.
(4) Where the relevant police area is the metropolitan police district, subsection (3) above shall have effect with the substitution for references to the police authority of references to the receiver for that district.
3 Prevention of theft at designated airports.
(1) Any relevant constable may in any aerodrome which is a designated airport—
(a ) stop, and without warrant search and arrest, any airport employee whom he has reasonable grounds to suspect of having in his possession or of conveying in any manner anything stolen or unlawfully obtained on the aerodrome; and
(b ) if he has reasonable grounds to suspect that anything stolen or unlawfully obtained on the aerodrome may be found in or on any vehicle carrying an airport employee or in or on any aircraft, stop and without warrant search and detain the vehicle or, as the case may be, board and without warrant search the aircraft.
(2) Any relevant constable may—
(a ) stop any person who is leaving a cargo area in an aerodrome which is a designated airport and inspect any goods carried by that person;
(b ) stop and search any vehicle or aircraft which is leaving any such area and inspect the vehicle or aircraft and any goods carried on or in it; and
(c ) detain in the area—
(i) any such goods as aforesaid for which there is not produced a document authorising their removal from the area signed by a person authorised in that behalf by the aerodrome authority; and
(ii) any such vehicle or aircraft as aforesaid so long as there are on or in it goods liable to detention under this paragraph.
(3) Nothing in subsection (2) above shall be construed as conferring a power to search any person.
(4) In any cargo area in an aerodrome which is a designated airport the powers of a constable under subsection (1)(b ) above
(a ) extend to any vehicle whether or not it is carrying an airport employee; and
(b ) include power, not only to board and search an aircraft, but also to stop and detain it.
(5) In this section ‘airport employee’, in relation to any aerodrome, means any person in the employment of the aerodrome authority and any person employed otherwise than by that authority to work on the aerodrome.
(6) In this section ‘cargo area’ means, subject to subsection (7) below, any area which appears to the Secretary of State to be used wholly or mainly for the storage or handling of cargo in an aerodrome and is designated by an order made by him for the purposes of this section.
(7) Where an aerodrome owned or managed by the British Airports Authority becomes a designated airport at a time when an area in that aerodrome is designated for the purposes of section 11 of the Civil Aviation Act 1968 (which makes provision corresponding to subsections (2) to (4) above) that area shall, unless the Secretary of State by order otherwise directs, be treated as a cargo area for the purposes of this section.
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