A recordable offence is any offence under United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 where the police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 must keep records of convictions and offenders on the Police National Computer

Police National Computer

The Police National Computer is a computer system used extensively by law enforcement organisations across the United Kingdom. It went live in 1974 and now consists of several databases available 24 hours a day, giving access to information of national and local significance.From October 2009, the...

.

A 'crime recordable offence' should not be confused with a 'crime reportable offence

Crime reportable offence

A crime reportable offence is any offence under United Kingdom law where the police must inform the Home Office on a either a Crimsec 1a or 2 form for statistical purposes...

'.

Legislation

The power for police to keep such records is contained in the National Police Records (Recordable Offences) Regulations 2000. This states that a 'crime recordable offence' is an offence which MUST be recorded as a conviction on the PNC.

Recordable offences include any offence punishable by imprisonment, plus a number of non-imprisonable offences such as:

• prostitution
• nuisance communications (phone calls, letters)
• tampering with motor vehicles
• firearms, air weapons, knives
• football offences
• causing harm or danger to children
• licenced premises
• drunkenness
• poaching
• begging
• failing to provide a specimen of breath, and
• taking a pedal cycle without owner's consent

A full, lengthy, list of recordable offences is conveniently available, provided by ACPO as an Appendix to their Retention Guidelines for Nominal Records on the Police National Computer . They are also available from

Recordable Offences - Statutelaw.gov.uk

Further police powers

Where a person has been arrested for a recordable offence, police may fingerprint

Fingerprint

A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...

 and take non-intimate DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

samples from suspects without authorisation from senior ranks.