National Defence Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. N-5)

Marginal note:Release from custody

• 158. (1) A person arrested under this Act shall, as soon as is practicable, be released from custody by the person making the arrest, unless the person making the arrest believes on reasonable grounds that it is necessary that the person under arrest be retained in custody having regard to all the circumstances, including

  • (a) the gravity of the offence alleged to have been committed;

  • (b) the need to establish the identity of the person under arrest;

  • (c) the need to secure or preserve evidence of or relating to the offence alleged to have been committed;

  • (d) the need to ensure that the person under arrest will appear before a service tribunal or civil court to be dealt with according to law;

  • (e) the need to prevent the continuation or repetition of the offence alleged to have been committed or the commission of any other offence; and

  • (f) the necessity to ensure the safety of the person under arrest or any other person.

• Marginal note:Retention in custody

  (2) If an arrested person is to be retained in custody, the person shall be placed in service custody or civil custody. Such force as is reasonably necessary for the purpose may be used.

• Marginal note:Duty to receive into service custody

  (3) The officer or non-commissioned member in charge of a guard or a guard-room or an officer or non-commissioned member appointed for the purposes of section 156 shall receive and keep a person under arrest who is committed to his or her custody.

• Marginal note:Account in writing

  (4) The person who commits a person under arrest to service custody shall, at the time of committal, deliver to the officer or non-commissioned member into whose custody the person under arrest is committed a signed account in writing setting out why the person under arrest is being committed to custody.

Marginal note:Report of custody

• 158.1 (1) The officer or non-commissioned member into whose custody a person under arrest is committed shall, as soon as practicable, and in any case within twenty-four hours after the arrest of the person committed to custody, deliver a report of custody, in writing, to the custody review officer.

• Marginal note:Contents

  (2) The report of custody must set out the name of the person in custody, an account of the offence alleged to have been committed by that person so far as it is known and the name and rank, if any, of the person who committed the person into service custody.

• Marginal note:Representations concerning release

  (3) Before the report of custody is delivered to the custody review officer,

  • (a) a copy of the report and the account in writing must be provided to the person in custody; and

  • (b) the person in custody must be given the opportunity to make representations concerning the person’s release from custody.

• Marginal note:Representations to be reduced to writing

  (4) Representations concerning release made by or on behalf of the person in custody must be reduced to writing or recorded by any other means.

• Marginal note:Accompanying documents

  (5) When the report of custody is delivered, it must be accompanied by the account in writing and any representations made by or on behalf of the person in custody or a statement confirming that the person was given the opportunity to make representations but did not do so.