ABSTRACT
One of the most popularised conceptions of an arrest is the scenario whereby a police officer takes a suspect by the arm who is then led to a waiting police car having first been cautioned. In the American style, one would expect the suspect to be ‘read his rights’ whilst being handcuffed. These arrests usually occur in the street or other public places, or even in private property, but this is not the only situation under which a person may be arrested. A person may already be at a police station voluntarily, in order to ‘assist the police with their enquiries’, but could later be arrested. Under what other circumstances can a person be liable to arrest? What powers are available to the police? What are the correct arrest procedures? To what extent may ordinary citizens make arrests? These, among other questions, will be discussed throughout this chapter, but first it is necessary to define the word ‘arrest’. An arrest may be defined as the lawful deprivation of a citizen’s liberty, exercised to whatever degree of lawful force is reasonably necessary, in order to assist in the investigation and prevention of crime, to ensure that a citizen is brought before a court or to preserve a person’s safety or others or their property. From this definition, an insight may already be gained regarding the complexity of this subject. This is not by chance, since it is a fundamental tenet of our basic rights and freedoms that no person shall be deprived of their liberty without lawful reason.1
