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In forceAmended2020 Revised Edition
Contents

Part 7 · Enforcement

56. Powers of arrest and detention

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Amended

Last amended by an amending law of 2024. 4 amendments in all.

(1)

Any police officer, or any Health Officer appointed under section 4(1)(a), (b) or (e) and authorised in writing by the appropriate Minister, may arrest without warrant any person committing or who he or she has reason to believe has committed any offence under section 11(1), 20(3), 21A(4), 23(3), 24(3) or 55(8).

(2)

Subject to subsection (1), any police officer, or any Health Officer appointed under section 4(1)(a), (b) or (e) and authorised in writing by the appropriate Minister, may arrest without warrant any person committing or who he or she has reason to believe has committed any offence under this Act if —

(a)

the name and address of the person are unknown to him or her;

(b)

the person declines to give the person’s name and address;

(c)

the person gives an address outside Singapore; or

(d)

there is reason to doubt the accuracy of the name and address if given.

(3)

Subject to subsection (8), any police officer, or any Health Officer appointed under section 4(1)(a), (b) or (e) and authorised in writing by the appropriate Minister, may arrest without warrant any person who —

(a)

being required to be isolated in any place under the provisions of this Act, has failed to proceed to that place or has left or attempted to leave that place; (b)being required to undergo or submit to any surveillance, medical examination or medical treatment under the provisions of this Act, has failed to undergo or submit to the surveillance, examination or treatment or comply with any condition relating to the surveillance; or

(c)

being required to comply with any requirement mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b), attempts to leave Singapore without the approval of the Director-General of Health.

(4)

Any person who, being required to comply with any requirement mentioned in subsection (3)(a) or (b), attempts to leave Singapore without the approval of the Director-General of Health shall be guilty of an offence.

(5)

Any person arrested under subsection (2) must, within 24 hours from the arrest or immediately in the case of a person who gives his or her address as a place outside Singapore, be taken before a Magistrate’s Court, unless before that time his or her true name and residence are ascertained, in which case the person must be immediately released on his or her executing a bond with or without sureties before a police officer not below the rank of inspector for the person’s appearance before a Magistrate’s Court, if so required.

(6)

Without affecting subsection (5), a person arrested must not be detained longer than is necessary for bringing him or her before a court, and in any case, not longer than 48 hours (excluding the time of any necessary journey), unless the order of a court for his or her detention is obtained.

(7)

The Director-General of Health may issue any order under this Act for the isolation, surveillance, medical examination or medical treatment of a person arrested under subsection (3).

(8)

A police officer or Health Officer authorised in writing by the Director-General of Health for the purposes of this subsection may, in relation to a person in default under subsection (3)(a), (b) or (c), take any of the following measures, whereupon the person is not to be arrested under subsection (3) in respect of the default:

(a)

in a case where that person is to be isolated —

(i)

to cause that person to be taken to the place where he or she is to be isolated; or

(ii)

to ensure that the person remains in isolation in his or her own dwelling place,for such period of time and subject to such conditions as the Director-General of Health thinks necessary for the protection of the public;

(b)

in a case where that person is to undergo surveillance, to cause that person to undergo surveillance for such period of time and subject to such conditions as the Director-General of Health thinks necessary for the protection of the public; (c)in a case where that person is to undergo medical examination or medical treatment, to cause that person to be medically examined or treated, subject to such conditions as the Director-General of Health thinks fit.

(9)

The measures mentioned in subsection (8) may extend to —

(a)

the entry into any premises without a warrant; and

(b)

the use of such force as may be necessary.

(10)

Any person arrested without warrant under this Act may be detained while awaiting trial or in remand at —

(a)

a lock-up appointed as a place of confinement under section 4(1) of the Prisons Act 1933; or

(b)

an immigration depot designated under the Immigration Act 1959.

Report

Read on from s 56A

Part 7A

National Public Health Research

Read on from Part 7A

Part 8

Miscellaneous

Read on from Part 8

Schedules

Read on from Schedules