Police powers of arrest

Arrest without a warrant
1. Section 24 of PACE sets out the powers of the police to arrest a person without a warrant. Changed when the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) came into force.
2. The police are now able to arrest a person:
  1. Where an offence has or may have been committed (Past)
  2. Where it is being or may be being committed (Present)
  3. Where it is about to be committed (Future)
3. The police must believe it necessary to make an arrest for one of the following reasons:
  1. To enable the persons name and address to be ascertained
  2. To prevent the person
    1. Causing physical injury to himself or another
    2. Suffering physical injury
    3. Causing loss or damage to property
    4. Committing an offence against public decency
    5. Causing an unlawful obstruction of the highway
  3. To protect a child or other vulnerable person
  4. To allow a prompt and effective investigation
  5. To prevent any prosecution for the offence from being hindered by the disappearance of the person in question
4. Guidelines for arrest under s24
  1. Where necessary the arresting officer may use reasonable force and may search the person.
  2. The arresting officer must inform the suspect that they re under arrest even if it is not obvious. There are no set words that need to be used, provided that the words are they must also be told the grounds for the arrest and be taken to the police station.
Other powers of arrest
1. Arrest with a warrant
  1. Section 1 of the Magistrates Court Act 1980
  2. The police may apply to the magistrates for a warrant to arrest a named person who is suspected of committing an offence.
  3. The warrant will allow them to enter a suspects home to make the arrest
2. Arrest by private citizen
  1. Serious organised crime and police act 2005 allows private citizens to make an arrest when someone is either in the act of committing an indictable offence or where they think someone is committing an indictable offence
3. Arrest for breach of the peace
  1. S26 of PACE specifies that this common law right to arrest remains in addition to the other powers of arrest.
  2. Bibby V Chief constable of Essex police 2000 specified that there are 4 certain criteria that need to be established before the police can arrest a person for such disturbance:
    1. Only a sufficiently real and present threat can justify depriving a person of their liberty
    2. The threat must come from the person being arrested
    3. The conduct must interfere with the rights of others
    4. The conduct of the person must be unreasonable
4. Arrest for breaching police bail
  1. A new S46A of PACE was created by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 giving the police the right to arrest without warrant anyone released on police bail who fails to attend the police station at the set times

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Police powers of arrest

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	Created by India Pooley over 9 years ago

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