ABSTRACT
Certain searches for evidence, although falling within PACE, are not legitimated by the warrant process under section 8. This chapter deals with two PACE searches of very different kinds. One category of search involves documents or records and the other the taking of bodily samples. Although the authorisation procedures are very different in respect of the two categories, both involve searches of a confidential or intimate nature. The first category of search is that concerning special procedure or excluded material. This must take place under the procedure set out in Schedule 1 of PACE. There is analogous power to conduct searches for documentation under provisions in other statutes where the purpose is to disclose profits made from drug trafficking or other crime and these will be briefly mentioned by way of comparison. The second category concerns the package of powers, existing under sections 61-65 of PACE,1 to take fingerprints or samples from a suspect in order to confirm his involvement with an offence. These latter powers require no judicial authorisation, perhaps because, in England and Wales, the procedure is regarded as being one confirming identity rather than as one involving a search, albeit that 'evidence' is seized as a consequence of the procedure.
