POLICE POWERS
v STOP AND SEARCH
Part 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) empowers any constable acting with reasonable grounds for suspicion to stop, detain and search you or your vehicle, or anything in or on your vehicle for certain items, which may be seized. The provisions of the Act are supplemented by a Code of Practice on stop and search. The police must observe the contents of the Code, although the remedy for failure to observe it is usually to make a police complaint - or if prosecuted to raise an objection in court - rather than to take legal proceedings against the police.
PACE also provides some safeguards for other well-used police powers of search. These might relate, for instance, to searches for drugs or firearms and so on. The safeguards also apply in a limited way to controversial powers of stop and search introduced by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 when it is feared that an incident involving serious violence may take place.
The police do not have general powers, apart from those specified in a statute, to stop and search you, unless you consent. You should ask the police officer to explain on what basis they are searching you. If no search power exists you should be told that you do not have to consent and if you do not, you should not be searched.
The power to stop and search inPACE enables a constable to search for stolen or 'prohibited articles' or knives - except short-bladed penknives. PACE defines two categories of prohibited article:
• An offensive weapon.
• An article made or adapted for use in connection with one of a list of offences including burglary, theft, taking a conveyance without authority - or being carried in one - and obtaining property by deception.
Virtually any article could come within this second definition but there would have to be some evidence of the use of the article or the intention of the person making, adapting or carrying it, otherwise a constable would not have reasonable grounds to search.cogc gcr segcgcw orgc gck ingc fogc gc:
PACES power of stop and search may be used by the police in most public and some private places as follows:
• A place to which, at the time of the proposed stop and search, the public - or any section of the public - has access as a matter of legal right or because there is permission.
• Any place - other than a dwelling - to which people have ready access at the time of the proposed stop and search.
These categories are obviously very wide and can include private property, for example front gardens and car parks. Whether you have ready access might depend on whether a gate or door is locked, or whether a plot of land is fenced.
However, a constable may not search you or your vehicle if you are on land, which is used for the purpose of a dwelling, without having reasonable grounds for believing that ...
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• Any place - other than a dwelling - to which people have ready access at the time of the proposed stop and search.
These categories are obviously very wide and can include private property, for example front gardens and car parks. Whether you have ready access might depend on whether a gate or door is locked, or whether a plot of land is fenced.
However, a constable may not search you or your vehicle if you are on land, which is used for the purpose of a dwelling, without having reasonable grounds for believing that you do not reside in the dwelling and are not in the place with the express or implied permission of a person who does reside in the dwelling. There is clearly a heavy responsibility on the constable in such cases, since the reasonable grounds must be justified objectively. These provisions should protect people behaving normally: window cleaners, post and milk deliverers and casual visitors.
The power of stop and search under PACE can only be exercised if the constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting that stolen or prohibited articles or knives will be found. The Code of Practice elaborates on this requirement. There must be some concrete basis for the officer's belief, related to you personally, which can be considered and evaluated by an objective third person. Mere suspicion based on hunch or instinct might justify observation but cannot justify a search.
Reasonable grounds for suspicion cannot be based solely on attitudes or prejudices towards certain types of people, such as membership of a group within which offenders of a certain kind are relatively common - for example, young football fans. Nor can it be based solely on your skin colour, age, hairstyle, mode of dress, or previous convictions for possessing an unlawful article.
In carrying out a search the police may not force you - but may request you - to remove any clothing in public - even if the street is empty - other than an outer coat, jacket or gloves. A more thorough search, involving the removal for instance of a hat or shoes, or a strip search - but not an intimate search - may take place in private, but it must be near to where you were stopped. Thus it could take place, for example, in a police van. No search involving exposure of intimate parts of the body may take place in a police van. The Code of Practice states that such searches must be by a police officer of your sex and must be in the absence of any one of the opposite sex, unless you specifically request otherwise.
The power to search a vehicle includes a power to search anything in or on it. If an unattended vehicle is searched, a notice to this effect must be left behind - inside the vehicle if reasonably practicable - stating the police station to which the constable is attached, that any claims for compensation should be made to that police station, and that you are entitled to a copy of the search record if requested within twelve months of the search. A constable may use reasonable force, if necessary, in the detention and conduct of the search, but force can only be necessary if you are first given the opportunity to cooperate and refuse.cobg bgr sebgbgw orbg bgk inbg fobg bg:
The safeguards in PACE and in the Code of Practice do not apply to the routine searching of those entering sports grounds or other premises with their consent or as a condition of entry. Likewise, nothing in PACE or in the Code affects the ability of an officer to search you in the street on a voluntary basis provided that you are capable of understanding to what it is you are consenting. Juveniles and people suffering from a mental handicap or disorder and others who appear not to be capable of giving an informed consent should not be subject to a voluntary search.
v ARREST
The police may arrest with or without a warrant. There are many powers of arrest under a warrant issued by a justice of the peace or judge, and the rules governing each of them is set out in the statute creating the power. This section deals with police powers of arrest without a warrant. Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights - the right to liberty and security - is the Article most likely to be violated here. The Article permits arrest on several grounds, the most relevant here being to prevent the commission of offences. This will be closely scrutinised by the court, as it does not for instance authorise any general powers of arrest to maintain order.
Powers of arrest without a warrant are governed by PACE as amended and can be grouped into the following categories:
• Arrest at common law for breach of the peace.
• Summary arrest for an 'arrestable offence'.
• Arrest subject to conditions.
• Arrest under specific powers.
• Arrest for the purpose of fingerprinting.
• Arrest for failure to answer police bail.
• Arrest to have a sample taken.
• Arrest of a young person for breaking conditions of remand.
A breach of the peace is not in itself a criminal offence, but the police and any other person have a power of arrest where there are reasonable grounds for believing a breach of the peace is taking place or is imminent.coda dar sedadaw orda dak inda foda da!
PACE uses the phrase summary arrest to mean arrest without a warrant and lists the arrestable offences for which the police can arrest without a warrant. The following are arrestable offences:
• Offences for which the sentence is fixed by law - including murder - life imprisonment.
• Offences carrying a maximum sentence of imprisonment for five years or more - these include serious offences of violence and dishonesty, but also some relatively minor offences such as shoplifting.
• Various statutory offences, for instance under the Official Secrets legislation, theft, sexual offences, public order and aviation legislation. The list is constantly being extended.
• Various statutory offences, including offences under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, the Official Secrets Acts 1920 and 1989, the Sexual Offences Act 1956, the Theft Act 1968 - including taking a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner and going equipped for theft, the Football (Offences) Act 1991, the Public Order Act 1986, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
This power of arrest may be carried out by anyone - either a police officer or any other person - a citizen's arrest - in the following circumstances:
• Anyone actually committing or whom he or she reasonably suspects to be committing an arrestable offence.
• Where an arrestable offence has been committed, anyone who is guilty or whom he or she reasonably suspects to be guilty of the offence.
A police officer may arrest in the same circumstances as any person, and also:
• Anyone who is or whom he or she reasonably suspects to be about to commit an arrestable offence.
• Where he or she reasonably suspects an arrestable offence has been committed, anyone whom he or she reasonably suspects to be guilty of the offence.
There is a further concept in PACE described as the serious arrestable offence. The definition of a serious arrestable offence does not affect the powers of arrest, but the more draconian police powers under PACE relating to the detention of a subject can be invoked where the offence is a serious arrestable offence - such as detention without charge for up to 96 hours, denial of access to a solicitor and delaying notification of detention to a friend for up to 36 hours, the authorisation of road checks, and so on.
The following are serious arrestable offences:
• Treason, murder, manslaughter, rape, kidnapping, incest or intercourse with a girl under 13, buggery with a boy under 16 or a person who has not consented, indecent assault constituting gross indecency, causing an explosion likely to endanger life or property, certain offences under the Firearms Act 1968, causing death by dangerous driving, hostage taking, torture and many drug-related offences, ship hijacking and Channel Tunnel train hijacking, taking indecent photographs of children, publication of obscene matter.
• Any other arrestable offence if its commission has led or is intended to, is likely or threatened to lead to any of the following consequences: serious harm to the security of the State or to public order, serious interference with the administration of justice or with the investigation of offences, the death or serious injury - including disease and impairment - of any person, or a substantial financial gain or serious financial loss to any person. For the purposes of denial of access to a solicitor and notification of detention, certain offences under the prevention of terrorism legislation.
An arrest is unlawful unless you are told that you are under arrest and the grounds for the arrest at the time. Such an unlawful arrest will become lawful when the police tell you the reason for the arrest. This information must be given at the time of the arrest or as soon as possible afterwards. The information need not be given if it was not reasonably practicable to do so because of your escape from arrest before it could be given. If you attend voluntarily at a police station - or any other place with a constable - without having been arrested you are entitled to leave at will unless placed under arrest.