Crimes > Pre-trial investigation of an offence > Coercive measures > Personal descriptions

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Personal descriptions

For the purposes of identification, solving cases and registering offenders, the police are entitled to record a suspect's fingerprints, handprints and footprints, a sample of his/her handwriting and voice, a photograph of the suspect and any distinctive marks. To help solve a crime, a DNA profile can be determined from a sample taken from the suspect in a bodily search.

Where there are pressing reasons in a criminal investigation, the police may, for the purposes of identification and for solving the case, also record the personal descriptions of persons who are not suspects, provided that the case concerns an offence for which the statutory punishment is more than six months' imprisonment. The personal descriptions of persons who are not suspects may not be used for purposes other than solving the case. Neither may they be stored or registered for other purposes.

A DNA profile may be entered in a police personal data file only if the maximum punishment for the offence by law is at least half year's imprisonment.



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