This article is about the section itself, you may be looking for the episode.
Section 31 refers to Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act and is an exclusion for information regarding law enforcement, so details that could interfere with the prevention or detection a crime can’t be given to the public. These are usually used for those cases that are paranormal in nature, such as the case of Jane Prentiss attacking The Magnus Institute and Gertrude’s discovered body. Officers who have signed a Section 31 form, or been “sectioned”, are informally marked out by the others and from then on assigned to work with other sectioned officers and called on to handle potentially paranormal cases. Other officers try to avoid weird cases, to avoid being sectioned themselves.
Officer Basira Hussain was the first “Section 31” officer to speak to Jonathan Sims at The Magnus Institute, recording a statement about a man who burned whatever he touched. Sims enlisted Basira’s help in obtaining statements recorded by Gertrude Robinson.
”Sectioned” Officers
- Basira Hussain ([MAG 43 - Section 31]]) and following
- Alice “Daisy” Tonner (MAG 43 - Section 31) and following
- Harry Altman (MAG 43 - Section 31)
- Leo Altman (MAG 73 - Police Lights)
- Goodman (MAG 73 - Police Lights)
Notes
- Star Trek also features an organisation called Section 31 but the shared name is likely a coincidence.
- In MAG 5 - Thrown Away, Officers Suresh and Altman investigated the case regarding the bag of human teeth. It’s not mentioned whether this was Harry Altman or Leo Altman.