| (1) | The National Commissioner must ensure that fingerprints, body-prints or photographic images taken under— |
| (a) | section 36B (1), section 36C (1) or section 37 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977); |
| (b) | section 113 of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No. 60 of 2000); |
| (c) | section 9 of the Explosives Act, 2003 (Act 15 of 2003); or |
| (d) | any Order of the Department of Correctional Services, |
are stored, maintained, administered, and readily available, whether in computerised or other form, and shall be located within the Division of the Service responsible for criminal records.
| (2) | The National Commissioner must ensure that the fingerprints and photographic images of persons whose names must be included in the National Register for Sex Offenders, as determined under section 50 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (Act No. 32 of 2007), are taken and dealt with in accordance with subsection (1). |
| (3) | The provisions of this Chapter apply mutatis mutandis to the fingerprints, body-prints or photographic images stored, maintained and administered by the Division of the Service responsible for criminal records prior to the coming into operation of this Act and nothing in this Chapter shall affect the use of such prints and photographic images for the purposes set out in subsections (4) and (5). |
| (4) | Subject to subsection (5), the fingerprints, body-prints or photographic images referred to in subsections (1), (2) and (3) shall only be used for purposes related to the detection of crime, the investigation of an offence, the identification of missing persons, the identification of unidentified human remains or the conducting of a prosecution. |
| (5) | Subsection (4) does not prohibit the use by the police officer commanding the Division of the Service responsible for criminal records or his or her delegate, of any fingerprints stored in terms of this section, for the purpose of establishing if a person has been convicted of an offence. |
| (6) | Any person who, with regard to any fingerprints, body-prints or photographic images referred to in this Chapter— |
| (a) | uses or who allows the use of those fingerprints, body-prints or photographic images for any purpose that is not related to the detection of crime, the investigation of an offence, the identification of missing persons, the identification of unidentified human remains or the conducting of a prosecution; or |
| (b) | tampers with or manipulates the process or the fingerprints, bodyprints or images in question; or |
| (c) | falsely claims such fingerprints, body-prints or images to have been taken from a specific person whilst knowing them to have been taken from another person or source, |
is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years.
[Section 15A inserted by section 6 of Act No. 6 of 2010]
