ABSTRACT
If a search is by consent, the statutory powers of search are not needed to legitimate the activities of law enforcement officers. There is no need for the search to be based upon reasonable grounds. In the context of a physical search of individuals, the safeguards incorporated into the revised Code A of PACE1 will not apply. This Code governs pre-arrest police powers to stop and search persons in public places. However, Code A1.3 states that it governs 'the exercise by police officers of statutory powers'. Nothing in Code A affects
(a) the routine searching of persons entering sports grounds or other premises with consent as a condition of entry; or
(b) the ability of an officer to search a person in the street with his consent where no search power exists. In these circumstances, an officer should always make it clear that he is seeking the consent of the person concerned to the search being carried out by telling the person that he need not consent and that without his consent he will not be searched.2
