Search warrants are given to prevent any evidence being destroyed or removed.
Premises, persons and articles must be identified in the warrant. The police must identify themselves, produce & hand over a copy of the warrant at least before the search. The search must take place at a reasonable hour.
Methods of Arrest
The suspect may have been arrested without a warrant, with a warrant for his arrest or he may have been summonsed to attend the Magistrates Court.
Summons (not pace)
A summons is obtained by information being laid before a JP i.e. a statement informing JP that specific offence has been committed or believed to have been committed in the county where the court is situated (if the offence is summary) or indictable or either way offences. Alternatively if the defendant resides in the area.
There is a time limit of 6 months on information being laid. Most information is laid by the police. The summons states the allegation of the information & requires the suspect to appear before a certain Mags at a certain time so the case can be heard. It is signed by the Mag.
Warrant for arrest (not pace)
Issued if the offence is punishable by imprisonment or is an indictable offence or if the defendant has no fixed address. It is an order to the police to arrest the person named, with a statement of the offence charged in the information & signed by the Mag. It may be backed for bail 0 Magistrates Court Act 1980.
Arrest without Warrant
This is the most likely to be used for either way or indictable offences but can be used for some summary cases e.g. assaulting a police officer.
Statutory arrest without a warrant was first created by the Criminal Law Act 1967 giving PCs (& citizens in some cases) the right where an offence is fixed by law or carries 5 years imprisonment or statute permits such an arrest.
Law governed by PACE S24
Offences are classified as Non Arrestable, Arrestable or serious arrestable offences.
Police & citizens can arrest anyone who is committing, or has Committed an arrestable offence or some they have reasonable grounds for suspecting is committing an AO or where an AO has been committed, anyone they have reasonable grounds suspecting to have committed it.
Police additionally can arrest anyone about to commit an AO or whom they reasonably suspect is about to commit such an offence or where they suspect an AO has been committed & they have reasonable grounds for arresting the suspect.
S25 Pace
Police can arrest anyone where the offence is a Non arrestable offence where the PC has reasonable grounds that the suspect has committed or is committing such an offence and the general arrest conditions are satisfied i.e.:
- Correct name and address not given.
- To protect vulnerable persons (suspect or others).
- To protect property.
- To prevent an offence against public decency.
- The commission of an obstruction on the highway.
There are other statutes permitting arrest without warrant e.g. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act allows PCs to arrest in cases of aggravated trespass. The Common Law also permits such arrests for breach of the peace.
Reasonable force may be used when making a lawful arrest.
Caution - Code D
This must be given on arrest and suspect must be told the reason for his arrest - no particular form required.
The caution was changed by the Criminal Justice and Public Order act. Now the "Right of Silence" is abolished, i.e. now the court/jury can draw adverse inferences from an accused's refusal to answer questions when interviewed & the new caution warns suspects of this. Some criticise the reform and argue that the vulnerable need the protection the old law provided but the police argue that it protected professional criminals.
Position After Arrest
As soon as it is practical, after the suspect's arrival at the police station, the custody officer must ascertain whether there is enough evidence to CHARGE him. If so he will be charged or told that a prosecution will follow and released with or without bail unless detention is necessary to secure or preserve evidence. If suspect is retained for questioning to obtain evidence the following applies.
S34 - 46 PACE & Code C deal with DETENTION
S56
After arrest (by whatever means) the suspect has the right to INFORM SOMEONE (friend, relative) of his arrest immediately. Right is suspended for up to 36 hours if the police reasonably believe that the exercise of the right would interfere with the enquiry & the offence is a serious arrestable offence.
Code permits suspect the TELEPHONE ONE PERSON.
Pace also provides for an "Appropriate Adult" to ATTEND interviews of children & the mentally disordered - criticism is that the mentally disordered are not always identified by police and so fail to get this help.
S58
The suspect is guaranteed free access to a DUTY (or his own) SOLICITOR in the vast majority of cases. Access may be delayed on the same grounds as above but the grounds for refusal are interpreted strictly, with breach leading to non-admissibility of evidence.
Suspect has the right to consult the CODE of PRACTICE.
A CUSTODY RECORD must be kept giving details of how the suspect was treated while in custody e.g. length and time of interviews must be recorded. Suspect has a right to a copy. The criticism arises of how independent the custody officer is & how reliable his records are. Sanders and Bridges thought some 10% were falsified.
There are TIME LIMITS on DETENTION with REGULAR REVIEWS.
S34-40
Maximum detention before charge is normally 24 HOURS.
This is EXTENDABLE to 36 Hours with the authority of a superintendent. And further EXTENDABLE to 96 hours with a WARRANT of further detention (or under the Prevention of Terrorism Act detention of 48 hours & a further 5 days with Home Seas permission).
Most suspects are detained for fairly short lengths of time: 3/4 for less than 6 hours, 1% for more than 24 hours.
Suspects should not be detained if there are no grounds for continuing the detention.
REVIEWS should be no later than 6 hours after detention & subsequently no less than every 9 hours.
Interviews must be conducted in REASONABLE CONDITIONS.
Interview rooms must be adequately lit, heated and ventilated. There must be breaks for sleep & refreshment.
Caution must be given before interviewing.
Admissibility of Confessions
S76
The court should exclude any evidence obtained by OPPRESSION or as a result of anything said or done which is likely to render unreliable any confession made as a consequence thereof. Oppression includes torture, inhumane or degrading treatment and the use or threat of violence.
S78
The court would exclude evidence if in all the circumstances its admission would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it.
TAPE RECORDING of INTERVIEWS
S60
All interviews must be tape-recorded. Criticism is that police obtain confessions etc. by wrongful means before recorded interview. There are pilot schemes i.e. video recordings.
Personal Searches After Arrest
S54
This allows for the suspect to be searched at the police station & for the police to seize anything found which might be evidence of an offence, obtained as a result of an offence, used to injure anyone or be used to escape. Must be carried out by person of the same sex & reasonable grounds. If in public removal of outer garments only is permitted.
S55
Intimate searches may be carried out e.g. to find a weapon or class A drugs - this must be carried out by a nurse or doctor. Searches of the mouth are no longer regarded as "intimate".
S62
Intimate samples may be taken, sometimes only with consent, if reasonable grounds, must be taken by a qualified person.
S63
Non intimate samples e.g. hair or saliva may be taken without the suspects consent.
S61
Fingerprints may be taken without consent.
CPJO Act allows for speculative samples to be taken which can be checked against existing data, even if a suspect has been acquitted.