POLICE POWERS IN GREAT BRITAIN

1
POLICE POWERS IN GREAT BRITAIN

• Unit 35

2
Preview

• History of the English police
• Arrest
• Entry
• Search
• Seizure
• Legal terms
• Exercise

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History

• JPs conscripted ordinary citizens known as petty
  constables, later as constables, to walk the
  streets and report any disorder
• Sometimes- employed thief-takers, who were often
  no better than criminals knew the criminal
  underworld well
• 17th and 18th c gangs of criminals roamed the
  towns transport was risky (highwaymen)

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History

• First police force the Metropolitan Police Force
  (policed the metropolis of London) created by
  Metropolitan Police Act of 1829
• Home Secretary Robert Peel policemen came to
  be known as Bobbies
• Instruction book the first duty of a constable
  is always to prevent the commission of a crime

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History

• The headquarters at first occupied a private
  house in Whitehall Place, the back of which
  opened on to a courtyard site of a residence
  owned by the Kings of Scotland the courtyard
  became known as Scotland Yard
• When a new police station was built it was called
  New Scotland Yard

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Law related to police powers

• Defines the extent to which the police may
  interfere with the freedom of the individual
• Various questions of civil and criminal liability
  depend on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the
  use of police powers

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Due process

• Importance of indvidual citizen
• The need to limit the powers of officials, who
  may otherwise abuse their position
• The need for formal safeguards to protect the
  position of suspects at all stages

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Crime control

• The most important function of the criminal
  justice system- repression of criminal conduct in
  the interests of society
• Efficiency the capacity to investigate, try and
  convict a high proportion of offenders
• Emphasis on informality rather than compliance
  with strict procedural rules

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Crime control

• Emphasises the expertise of the police and
  prosecutors to screen out the innocent, rather
  than relying on more thorough judicial
  proceedings or the rights of suspects to
  challenge the criminal justice process if it
  becomes oppressive
• Emphasis on the need for the police to extract
  confessions from suspects

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PACE

• Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) defines
  legal powers of the police

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Police powers

• Arrest
• Search
• Entry
• Seizure

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Powers of arrest

• Until 2006 police could only arrest people
  suspected of arrestable offences
• 1 Jan. 2006 the Serious Organised Crime and
  Police Act came into force
• All offences are arrestable
• Necessity test police can only arrest someone if
  it is necessary to do so, e.g. to stop them from
  escaping or to protect a vulnerable person from
  attack

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Powers of arrest

• A constable may arrest without a warrant
• 1) anyone who is about to commit an offence, who
  is in the act of commining an offence or anyone
  he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be
  committing an offence
• 2) if a constable has reasonable grounds for
  suspecting that an offence has been committed
• 3) if an offence has been committed

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Lawful arrest requires

• 1) a persons involvement or suspected
  involvement AND
• 2) reasonable grounds for believing that the
  persons arrest is necessary
• Arresting officers must inform the person
  arrested that they have been arrested, even if
  this fact is obvious

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Arrest can be made

• 1) to enable the persons name or address to be
  ascertained
• 2) to prevent the person from causing physical
  injury to himself or others, causing loss of or
  damage to property, committing an offence against
  public decency, causing an unlawful obstruction
  of the highway

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Arrest can be made

• 3) to protect a child or other vulnerable person
• 4) to allow investigation of an offence
• 5) to prevent any prosecution for the offence
  from being hindered by the disappearance of the
  person in question

17
Arrest with a warrant

• The police may make an application to a
  magistrate for a warrant to arrest a named person

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Arrest

• Citizens power to arrest anyone who is
  committing, or reasonably suspected to be
  committing, an indictable offence citizens have
  no power of arrest for anticipated offences they
  can arrest for past and present offences only
  (Section 24A of PACE, s. 110 of the Serious
  Organised Crime and Police Act 2005)

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Reasonable suspicion

• Gives the police a very wide discretion in the
  matter of arrest very few restraints on police
  discretion
• The exercise of that discretion is structured
  not by legal rules but by police working rules

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Lawfulness of arrest

• If the arrest is lawful, the arrested person will
  be guilty of the crime and tort of assault if he
  uses force to resist
• The policeman is entitled to use such reasonable
  force as may be necessary to make the arrest
• If the arrested person escapes from custody, he
  will be guilty of an offence

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Unlawful arrest

• If the arrest is unlawful, the policeman will be
  guilty of the tort and crime of false
  imprisonment
• If the policeman uses force, he will be guilty of
  assaut
• The arrested person is legally entitled to use
  reasonable force to protect his liberty
• He will not be guilty of any offence if he
  resists arrest or escapes from custody

22
Powers of detention

• Police can detain a suspect while they carry out
  their investigations (24 hrs, 36 hrs, max 96
  hrs exception terrorism cases 14-28 days)
• The power to question the suspect
• The power to take bodily samples

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Rights of a detained person

• Confessions obtained by oppression inadmissible
  at court
• Right to advice of solicitor
• The right to silence
• Children must be accompanied by a parent or other
  responsible adult
• Interviews should be tape-recorded

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The right to silence

• You do not have to say anything. But it may harm
  your defence if you do not mention when
  questioned something which you later rely on in
  court. Anything you do say may be given in
  evidence.

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False confessions

• A safeguard against the danger of convictions
  based on false confessions a rule that the
  defendant could not be convicted on confession
  evidence alone (a corroboration rule) this
  would reduce the risk of miscarriages of justice
  arising from false confessions

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Stop and search

• Right to stop and search people and vehicles in a
  public place
• If there are reasonable grounds for believing
  that an offence has been committed (e.g. theft,
  possession of stolen goods, firearms, drugs, or
  the unlawful taking of a vehicle)

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PACE Stop and search

• Powers to stop and search must be used fairly,
  responsibly, with respect for people being
  searched and without unlawful discrimination
• It is unlawful for police officers to
  discriminate on the grounds of race, colour,
  ethnic origin, nationality or national origins
  when using their powers

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Stop and search

• There must be an objective basis for reasonable
  suspicion based on facts, information and
  intelligence
• Reasonable suspicion can never be based on
  personal factors alone without reliable
  supporting intelligence or information or some
  specific behaviour by the person concerned

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Unlawful search

• An unlawful search of the person assault
• The person searched is entitled to use reasonable
  force to resist

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Lawful search

• If the search is lawful, the policeman is
  entitled to use reasonable force
• Resistance is considered to be an assault

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Safeguards

• The police officer must give his name and station
  and the reason for the search

32
Enter and search premises

• A magistrate issues a search warrant
• Police may enter premises without a warrant if
  they believe a serious offence has been
  committed, to save life, or to prevent serious
  damage to property

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Lawful entry

• The police can enter premises to make an arrest
  and can search the premises

34
Unlawful entry

• Unlawful entry onto private property constitutes
  the tort of trespass
• The occupier is entitled to use reasonable force
  to expel the trespasser
• If the latter retaliates, he will be guilty of
  the tort and crime of assault

35
Seizure

• When a lawful arrest is made, the police are
  entitled to seize articles or documents in the
  possession or control of the suspect that could
  be used in evidence against him
• They can also take any weapon or article that he
  could use to harm himself or others

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Seizure lawful or unlawful?

• If a policeman takes goods without lawful
  justification, he is guilty of the tort of
  trespass to the goods
• If he refuses to return them, he will be liable
  for the tort of detinue or conversion
• The owner can obtain damages from the police and
  a court order for the return of the goods

37
Unlawful entry and searches

• It may be possible to persuade the judge at the
  trial to refuse to allow the prosecution to put
  forward any evidence obtained as a result of an
  unlawful search

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The use of force?

• The use of force by the police should be
  reasonable and must be delayed until it is
  necessary
• Example although the policeman has the right to
  use force to enter the building, he must not do
  so until the occupier has had the opportunity to
  open the door. The occupier should be told by the
  policeman why he requires entry

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Attestation

• Ido solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm
  that I will well and truly serve the Queen in the
  office of constable, with fairness, integrity,
  diligence and impartiality, upholding fundamental
  human rights and according equal respect to all
  people and that I will, to the best of my power,
  cause the peace to be kept and preserved and
  prevent all offences against people and property
  and that while I continue to hold the said office
  I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge,
  discharge all the duties thereof according to
  law.

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Training

• The new police constable must work on the beat
  patrolling the streets for a probationary
  period (2 years)
• Career structure constable, sergeant, inspector,
  superintendent, Deputy Chief Constable, Chief
  Constable

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Legal terms

• Arrest
• Uhicenje, prisilno dovodenje, lišavanje slobode
• Search
• Pretraga, pretres, pravo pretrage
• Entry
• Ulazak na privatni posjed pravo ulaska na
  privatni posjed
• Seizure
• Privremeno oduzimanje, zapljena

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Legal terms

• Assault
• An intentional or reckless act that causes
  someone to be put in fear of immediate physical
  harm. Actual physical contact is not necessary to
  constitute and assault (e.g. pointing a gun at
  someone may constitute an assault)
• Assault is a form of tresspass to the person and
  a crime as well as tort
• Napad, nasrtaj, pokušaj nanošenja ozljede

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Assault

• Common a. a summary offence punishable by a fine
  and/or up to six months imprisonment
• Aggravated a. more serious assault, e.g. assault
  with intent to resist lawful arrest (2 years), a.
  occasioning actual bodily harm (5 years), a. with
  intent to rob life (life imprisonment)

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Legal terms

• Custody
• Istražni zatvor, pritvor
• False imprisonment
• Protuzakonito uhicenje

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False imprisonment

• Unlawful restriction of a persons freedom of
  movement, not necessarily in a prison.
• Includes unlawful arrest and unlawfully
  preventing a person from e.g. leaving a room
• A form of trespass to the person, so it is not
  necessary to prove that it has caused actual
  damage
• Both a crime and a tort
• The writ of habeas corpus is available to restore
  the imprisoned person to liberty

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Legal terms

• Writ
• Sudski nalog
• Suspect
• Osumnjicena osoba
• Warrant
• Uhidbeni nalog

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Legal terms

• Trespass
• Ometanje posjeda, neovlašteni pristup
• Tresspasser
• Osoba koja neovlašteno ulazi na tudi posjed,
  prijestupnik
• Retaliate
• uzvratiti

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Legal terms

• Detain
• Zadržati privremeno zatvoriti
• Detention
• Pritvor
• Detinue
• Protupravno zadržavanje
• Conversion
• otudenje

49
State whether there has been a lawful arrest in
the following situations. Give reasons.

• After an incident in which a man was stabbed and
  seriously hurt, a police officer grabs hold of
  Damon. When Damon protests and asks why, the
  police officer says you know what its for. The
  police officer did not see the incident but was
  told by someone else at the scene that Damon was
  responsible.

50
State whether there has been a lawful arrest in
the following situations. Give reasons

• Amanda is stopped by the police for speeding.
  When one of the police officers asks her her
  name, she replies Superwoman. She is then asked
  for her address and refuses to give it. The
  police officer arrests her and takes her to the
  police station.

51
Fill in the missing words court, deterrent,
disciplinary, evidence, legal

• The police who fail to act within the scope of
  their ____ powers may be the subject of internal
  ___ proceedings, or worse. Potentially the most
  effective ___ against breaking the rules arises
  from the fact that any ___ obtained improperly
  may not be able to be given in ___.

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Key

• The police who fail to act within the scope of
  their legal powers may be the subject of internal
  disciplinary proceedings, or worse. Potentially
  the most effective deterrent against breaking the
  rules arises from the fact that any evidence
  obtained improperly may not be able to be given
  in court.

53
Put the verbs in brackets into appropriate forms

• As the police know that during the investigative
  information-gathering stage these rules of
  evidence will__ (apply, passive) should a case
  reach court and ___(contest, passive), these
  rules should shape the ways in which evidence___
  (obtain, passive) by the police. However, the law
  of evidence ___(give) judges considerable
  discretion whether or not evidence should ___
  (exclude, passive). The practical consequences of
  bending or ___(ignore) the questioning rules are
  not always predictable.

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Key

• As the police know that during the investigative
  information-gathering stage these rules of
  evidence will be applied should a case reach
  court and be contested, these rules should shape
  the ways in which evidence is obtained by the
  police. However, the law of evidence gives judges
  considerable discretion whether or not evidence
  should be excluded. The practical consequences of
  bending or ignoring the questioning rules are not
  always predictable.