It also provides for searches of premises or vehicles “as part of an investigation into a serious act that [the police] suspect has been carried out by a child under the ACR [age of criminal responsibility], but do not have an automatic statutory power to do so”iExplanatory Notes, Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Bill, page 31, para 140.
The Explanatory Notes emphasise that stopping and searching children under 12 is a rare occurrence, stating “Police Scotland figures show that in the year to April 2017 only 10 searches of children under 12 took place (and those were all children aged 10 or 11)”Policy Memorandum, page 30, para 144 , although they go on to describe the power to search for and remove items from younger children as ‘crucial’. iiiPage 30, para 144, Explanatory Notes, Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Bill
Timing of use of search powers
Police Scotland state that “it is noted that the power to search without a warrant in other enactments is carried over into this Bill through the provisions in section 25.