23—Senior police officer may make public safety order
(1) A senior police
officer may make an order (a "public safety order ) in respect of a person or
a class of persons if satisfied that—
(a) the
presence of the person, or of persons of that class, at any premises or event,
or within an area, poses a serious risk to public safety or security; and
(b) the
making of the order is appropriate in the circumstances.
(2) In considering
whether or not to make a public safety order in relation to a person or class
of persons, the senior police officer must have regard to the following:
(a)
whether the person or members of the class of persons have previously behaved
in a way that posed a serious risk to public safety or security or have a
history of engaging in serious criminal activity;
(b)
whether the person or members of the class of persons—
(i)
are, or have been, members of a declared organisation; or
(ii)
are, or have been, subject to control orders; or
(iii)
associate, or have associated, with members of a declared
organisation or persons subject to control orders;
(c) if
advocacy, protest, dissent or industrial action is the likely reason for the
person or members of the class of persons being present at the relevant
premises or event, or within the relevant area—the public interest in
maintaining freedom to participate in such activities;
(d)
whether the degree of risk involved justifies the imposition of the
prohibitions to be specified in the order (having regard, in particular, to
any legitimate reason the person or members of the class of persons may have
for being present at the relevant premises or event, or within the relevant
area);
(e) the
extent to which the making of the order will mitigate any risk to public
safety or security;
(f) the
extent to which the order is necessary having regard to other measures
reasonably available to mitigate the risk;
(g) any
other matters the officer thinks fit.
(3) A public safety
order may prohibit a specified person or specified class of persons
from—
(a)
entering or being on specified premises; or
(b)
attending a specified event; or
(c)
entering or being within a specified area.
(4) If a public safety
order prohibits attendance at a specified event, the order—
(a) may,
in specifying the event, include associated events or activities (provided
that the associated events or activities occur on the same day as the
principal event or part of the principal event); and
(b) must
define the area or areas in which the event takes place for the purposes of
the order; and
(c) must
define when the event is taken to start and finish for the purposes of the
order.
(5) Despite any other
provision of this section, a senior police officer must not make a public
safety order that would prohibit a person or class of persons from being
present at any premises or event, or within an area, if—
(a)
those persons are members of an organisation formed for, or whose primary
purpose is, non-violent advocacy, protest, dissent or industrial action; and
(b) the
officer believes that advocacy, protest, dissent or industrial action is the
likely reason for those persons to be present at the premises or event or
within the area.
(6) Subject to
section 25, a public safety order operates for the period specified in
the order.
(7) A public safety
order may prohibit a person from entering premises or being on premises,
whether or not the person has a legal or equitable interest in the premises,
but must not prohibit a person from entering premises or being on premises
that are the person's principal place of residence.
(8) For the purposes
of this section, the presence of a person or persons at premises or an event
or within an area poses a "serious risk to public safety or security if there
is a serious risk that the presence of the person or persons might result
in—
(a) the
death of, or serious physical harm to, a person; or
(b)
serious damage to property.
(9) In this
section—
"damage", in relation to property, includes the following:
(a)
destruction of the property;
(b) an
alteration to the property that depreciates its value;
(c)
rendering the property useless or inoperative;
(d) in
relation to an animal—injuring, wounding or killing the animal.