Special Constables Act 1923

3Substitution of special constables for metropolitan police at armament depots, &c.

(1)Any two justices of the peace may appoint such persons as may be nominated for the purpose by the Admiralty, Army Council, or Air Council, to be special constables within the yards and stations and limits within which constables of the metropolitan police force may by virtue of the [23 & 24 Vict. c. 135.] Metropolitan Police Act, 1860, or the [4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 44.] Metropolitan Police (Employment in Scotland) Act, 1914, both as originally enacted and as applied to the Air Force, be employed; and every person so appointed shall be sworn in by any such justices duly to execute the office of a constable within the places and limits aforesaid, and when so sworn in shall have the same powers and privileges, and be liable to the same duties and responsibilities as constables of the metropolitan police force have and are liable to under the said Acts.

(2)Special constables appointed under this section shall be under the exclusive control of the department on whose nomination they are appointed, and that department shall have power to suspend or terminate the appointment of any such special constable.

(3)In the application of this section to Scotland references to any two justices of the peace shall be construed as references to the magistrates of a burgh or the standing joint committee of a county, as the case may be, and the reference to swearing in shall be read as a reference to, making a declaration or taking an oath, as the case may be, in the form and manner prescribed in section seventy-nine of the [55 & 56 Vict. c. 55.] Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1892, and section eleven of the [20 & 21 Vict. c. 72.] Police (Scotland) Act, 1857, respectively.