Police stop, search, detention and arrest powers in the United Kingdom

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United Kingdom law provides for the police to stop and search members of the public without making an arrest. Scotland has a separate legal identity to England and Wales and stop and search powers are therefore provided for by different legislation.

The United Kingdom as a whole

Section 44, Terrorism Act

Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows the police to stop and search anyone in a specific area.

Any constable in uniform is authorised to stop a vehicle in an area or at a place specified in the authorisation and to search the vehicle, the drivers and passengers and anything in or on the vehicle or carried by the driver or a passenger. Any constable in uniform is authorised to stop a pedestrian in an area or at a place specified in the authorisation and to search the pedestrian and anything carried by him.

• The police can only give a suspect a pat down, remove outer clothes (eg jacket, hat), search bags and empty the suspect's pockets
• The suspect does not have to give their name and address
• The suspect does not have to explain why they are there
• Suspects are not allowed to flee the search
• There is no permission to collect the suspect's DNA data during the search
• The suspect does not have to comply with any attempt to photograph or record them^[1]

Section 44 has been used by the police to stop and search many people other than terrorism suspects. This has included journalists^[2], a man photographing a police car^[3] and Walter Wolfgang, a heckler at the Labour Party Conference.^[4] Vernon Coaker, the Minister of State has since stated that, "counter-terrorism measures should only be used for counter-terrorism purposes".^[5]

England and Wales

In England and Wales, Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 deals with the exercise by police officers of statutory powers to search a person or a vehicle without first making an arrest. It also deals with the need for a police officer to make a record of such a stop or encounter.^[6]

Section 60 orders

Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provides for orders extending police powers within a particular locality for 24 hours. Where a police officer of or above the rank of superintendent reasonably believes that incidents involving serious violence may take place in his locality he may institute a 24-hour Section 60 or S60 order. Individual orders may be extended by six hours.

When a section 60 order is in place for a particular locality, any police constable in uniform may:

• stop any pedestrian in that locality and search him or anything carried by him for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments
• stop any vehicle in that locality and search the vehicle, its driver and any passenger for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments
• seize any such offensive weapons or dangerous instruments

In the exercise of the above powers, it is not necessary for the constable to have any grounds for suspecting that the person or vehicle is carrying the weapons or articles described. Pedestrians and drivers of vehicles are entitled to apply for a written statement that their person or vehicle was stopped under the powers conferred by section 60 within twelve months from the day on which the pedestrian or vehicle was stopped. In section 60, "dangerous instruments" means instruments which have a blade or are sharply pointed. "Offensive weapon" has the meaning given by section 1(9) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

The search should not be used to discover identity or for any other purpose, so items too small to conceal a weapon or dangerous instrument, for example a wallet, should not be searched. Constables are not entitled to read any papers, etc. they may find.^[7]

Scotland

Scots criminal law is heavily based on common law. There is not one clear statute or code setting out the different criminal offences. Nor is there a collection of statutes defining most offences as in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Stop and search

Legislation providing for stop and search includes the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice Act (Scotland) 2005

There is no general right for the police to search a suspect. There are exceptions to this: the police can stop and search without having a search warrant if they suspect someone of being in possession of any of the following:^[8]

• drugs
• an offensive weapon
• stolen property
• alcohol if you are at certain major football or rugby matches or on public transport travelling to such an event
• evidence in relation to an offence under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002
• cash or the cash equivalent of £10,000 or more and that this is the result of criminal activity

The police can only carry out a "pat down" search if a suspect has been arrested, the suspect is only required to remove outer clothing, for example a coat, in public. The suspect has the right to be searched by an officer of the same gender. The suspect is not required to give a name or address.^[9]

See also

• Law enforcement agency powers
• Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 - applicable to England and Wales only except for some cross-border matters.
• Search of persons
• Arrest#United_Kingdom
• Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
• Kettling
• Detention of suspects#England and Wales

References