Airport "Police"

knowledge=power

Hi all,

I was recently reading through a forum realting to Airport Police and their authority. Numerous threads stated that the AP have exactly the SAME powers as members of An Garda Siochana.

I am just wondering what exact authority they have to deal with e.g checkpoints, speedchecks, vehicle Tax/Insurance.. etc etc

I attach a copy of Section 33 of the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1988 which details what I believe are their powers. Nowhere here does it state that the AP have any powers under the numerous Road Traffic Acts.

Any comments....

Thanks.

Powers of authorised officers at aerodromes. 33. —(1) An authorised officer, in the interest of the proper operation, or the security or safety, of an aerodrome, or the security or safety of persons, aircraft or other property thereon, may do all or any of the following things—
[GA] ( a ) stop, detain for such time as is reasonably necessary for the exercise of any of his powers under this section, and search any person or vehicle on an aerodrome;
[GA] ( b ) require any person on an aerodrome to—
[GA] (i) give his name and address and to produce other evidence of his identity;
[GA] (ii) state the purpose of his being on the aerodrome;
[GA] (iii) account for any baggage or other property which may be in his possession;
[GA] ( c ) order any person
[GA] (i) who refuses to give his name or address, or to produce other evidence of his identity, or
[GA] (ii) who refuses to state the purpose of his being on the aerodrome, or
[GA] (iii) who refuses to account for any baggage or other property in his possession, or
[GA] (iv) who gives a name or address or states a purpose of his being on the aerodrome which is known, or is reasonably suspected, by the authorised officer to be false or fictitious, or
[GA] (v) whom he knows not to have, or whom he reasonably suspects of not having, a lawful reason for being on the aerodrome,
[GA] to leave the aerodrome, or any part thereof, or he may remove such person from the aerodrome, or any part thereof, or he may arrest that person without warrant,
[GA] ( d ) arrest without warrant any person- 4
[GA] (i) who assaults, or whom he reasonably suspects to have assaulted, another person on an aerodrome, or
[GA] (ii) whom he knows to have, or whom he reasonably suspects of having contravened section 12 or 19, or
[GA] (iii) whom he knows to have, or reasonably suspects of having, a stolen article in his possession.
[GA] (2) Where an authorised officer, who is not a member of the Garda Síochána, arrests a person under this section, he shall, forthwith, deliver such person into the custody of a member of the Garda Síochána to be dealt with in accordance with law.
[GA] (3) Where an authorised officer arrests a person pursuant to the powers conferred on him by subsection (1) (d) (iii), he may retain in his possession any article which he knows to have been, or reasonably suspects of having been, stolen until it has been established whether or not the article was stolen.
[GA] (4) A person who was ordered by an authorised officer to leave an aerodrome or part of an aerodrome, or who was removed from an aerodrome or part of an aerodrome by an authorised officer, shall not, on the same day, without the permission of an authorised officer, return to the aerodrome or the part of the aerodrome which he was ordered to leave, or from which he was removed, as the case may be.
[GA] (5) Any person who obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of any of the powers conferred on him by this section, or who fails to comply with any lawful requirement of an authorised officer under this section, shall be guilty of an offence.
[GA] (6) In this section, "authorised officer" has the same meaning as in section 15 of the Act of 1950 (as amended by this Act).

djtechnics1210

Airport Police DO NOT have the same powers as AGS (whoever said they do should be flogged)
AP have absolutely no powers under the road traffic act.
They have no powers regarding tax/insurance/speed checks
The only powers they have are under the air navigation act, these powers are confined to the aerodrome.
They have power of arrest under common law like every other citizen in the country has.

To be honest this topic has been debated to death here before

deadwood

djtechnics1210 wrote: »

To be honest this topic has been debated to death here before

+1

djtechnics1210

+1

All the Ap and fire lads are always extremely helpful and always give a hand whenever they can.

sdanseo

DAP are the guys who know the airport so they'll generally be at checkpoints - but there will always be Gardaí there if it's not strictly airport business and they do their own checks.

I thought we'd put this to bed a while back.

djtechnics1210

This is put to bed so long its got massive bedsores.

civdef

Agreed.