ABSTRACT
A number of sections under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) have given the police specific and general powers to seize evidence, and a number of other statutes passed before and after PACE provide the police with a variety of powers of seizure in respect of certain categories of property. These include the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963, the Biological Weapons Act 1974, the Criminal Damage Act 1971, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the Theft Act 1968, the Financial Services Act 1986, the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 and the Drug Trafficking Act 1994, to name but a few. Some examples of specific police powers of seizure under statutes enacted since PACE will be illustrated towards the end of this chapter.
Under s 19 of PACE, a constable may seize anything if he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that it constitutes evidence in relation to any offence or that it has been obtained as a result of an offence being committed, and that it is necessary to seize such items to prevent them being concealed, lost, altered or destroyed. The general power of seizure only applies when the constable is on premises lawfully, namely, where the officer is executing a search warrant or any other search under written authority, is dealing with or preventing a breach of the peace, entering premises under s 17, 18 or 32 of PACE or has entered premises with the consent of a person entitled to give it. It is submitted that this may also apply where the police are on premises under the authority of any statutory power to enter premises without a warrant.1
