ABSTRACT
This is a common law power of arrest that was preserved by PACE and is available to ordinary citizens as well as the police. As far as the police are concerned, it has not been widely used by them in more recent times because of the array of public order offences created by the Public Order Act 1986 and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Also, the police have specific powers under s 17 of PACE, for instance, to effect entry into premises in order to deal with incidents which can sometimes be placed under the heading of breaches of the peace (see Chapter 4). These have made the exercise of their powers more certain, in view of the availability of statutory provisions, rather than relying on the interpretation of the common law in individual cases.
