Section 9: Duties of Police Force

9. Duties of Police Force (1) The duties of the Police Force shall be to take all lawful measures for— (a) preserving the public peace; (b) preventing and detecting offences; (c) apprehending persons who have committed or who are reasonably suspected of having committed offences; (d) regulating processions and gatherings on public roads and in public places or places of public resort; (e) regulating traffic and preventing or removing obstructions from public roads; (f) preserving order in public places and places of public resort, at public gatherings and assemblies for public amusement; (g) assisting in implementing health, quarantine, customs and excise laws; (h) assisting in preserving order in ports, harbours and airports; (i) executing process issued by a Court; (j) swearing information and conducting prosecutions; and (k) performing such other functions as may be conferred on police officers under any other enactment. (1A) The Police Force may exercise any of the duties referred to in subsection (1) (b), (c) and (k) in the maritime zones of Mauritius and, for the purposes of the Piracy and Maritime Violence Act, in the high seas. (2) Every police officer shall perform such paramilitary duties as he may be required to do and, for that purpose, may serve in any specialised unit of the Police Force. (3) For the purposes of subsection (1) (f), a police officer on duty shall have free admission to the places, gatherings and assemblies specified while they are open to the public. [S. 9 amended by s. 11 (7) of Act 39 of 2011 w.e.f. 1 June 2012.]