Search and confiscate policy

Electronic devices

The use of electronic devices by students provides additional concerns in regard to:

  • their welfare and safety
  • the potential for criminal offences to be committed

The authority to search for a device is outlined in section 3 of the Education Act 2011. This allows authorised staff to search for any article that they reasonably suspect has been, or is likely to be, used to commit an offence. In addition, staff can search for a device when they reasonably suspect that it contains data or files that have been, or could be, used to:

  • cause harm
  • disrupt teaching
  • break the college rules

If returning a device to a student, the member of staff may delete any data or file if there is good reason to do so. To examine or erase data or files, the staff member must reasonably suspect that the data or file has been, or could be, used to cause harm. Consideration should be given by the staff member undertaking the examination of a device not to cause further embarrassment or stress to the student in cases of self-generated images being suspected.

If inappropriate material is found on the device, it is up to that member of staff to decide whether to:

  • delete that material
  • retain it as evidence of a criminal offence, or a breach of college discipline

In the case of suspected criminal offences having been committed, the device should be retained, switched off if possible and the police contacted.

Examples of illegal material would be:

  • child sexual abuse images (including images of one child held by another being mindful of the e-safety policy on self-generated sexual images)
  • adult material that potentially breaches the Obscene Publications Act (person under 18 viewing pornography)
  • extreme pornography
  • criminally racist material
  • extremist material falling under the Prevent or Channel programme
  • other criminal conduct

In the case of material being deleted from a device, a record should be kept outlining the material that was deleted and the reasoning for this. In the case of material being discovered that requires reporting to police, care should be taken not to delete or tamper with the files causing concern. The device should be switched off and stored securely.