ABSTRACT
Examiners often set problem questions in the area of ‘ordinary’ police powers, since the detailed rules of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), as amended, and the Codes of Practice (current versions 2008) made under it lend themselves to such a format. (Note also the power to stop and search arising under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, s 23(2).) The questions usually concern a number of stages from first contact between police and suspect in the street up to the charge. This allows consideration of the rules governing stop and search, arrest, searching of premises, seizure of articles, detention, treatment in the police station and interviewing. (It must be borne in mind that interviews do not invariably take place in the police station; an important area in the question may concern an interview of the suspect that takes place in the street or in the police car.) Depending on the areas covered in your particular course, you need to be aware of the most important changes made to the PACE Codes in 2006. In particular, a new arrest Code, Code G, and a special new Code, Code H (covering police detention of terrorist suspects) were introduced in 2006. The Codes, especially Code C, are very long and detailed; you only need, however, to be aware of the key provisions – the ones mentioned in the questions below. You also need to be aware of ss 34-37 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, as amended, which curtail the right to silence and therefore affect police interviewing. (In freedom of assembly questions involving police powers, covered in Chapter 12, you also need to be aware of the extension of police powers in the public order context, contained in Pt V of the 1994 Act.) The common law power to arrest to prevent a breach of the peace is still extensively used and may need to be considered.
The rules governing obstruction and assault on a police officer in the execution of his duty under s 89 of the Police Act 1996 may be relevant as necessitating analysis of the legality of police conduct, in order to determine whether or not a police officer
