Police Powers

Question 1

Judicial scrutiny of the police

Answer 1

Actions in tort for negligence, trespass to the person, goods or land: Hsu v Commissioner of Police for the metropolis

JR: R v Metropolitan Police Commissioner ex parte Blackburn [1968]

Claims for damages under HRA 1988: Commissioner of police of the Metropolis v DSD

Internal investigation

Question 2

Wednesbury unreasonableness

Answer 2

Something so absurd to arrest someone on or to pick on someone for e.g. having red hair.

Question 3

What is the main act governing police powers?

Answer 3

PACE 1984

Question 4

What are the grounds a police can stop and search someone on?

Answer 4

Reasonable suspicion: genuine suspicion and there must be an objective basis for their suspicion

Question 5

What can police not use in stop and search?

Answer 5

Physical appearance and beliefs regarding groups as a basis for stop and search.

Past convictions cannot be used.

Question 6

What are the procedural requirements for a stop and search?

Answer 6

S 2 PACE:

• constable’s name and name of police station to which he is attached
• object of the proposed search
• constable’s grounds for proposing to make it.
• inform that a record will be made and the person can obtain a copy of this record.

Question 7

Osman v DPP (1999)

Answer 7

Procedural requirements are mandatory

Question 8

Lewis v Chief Constable of South Wales (1991)

Answer 8

Arrest is a matter of fact not a legal concept.

Question 9

Spicer v Holt (1977)

Answer 9

Somebody is arrested irrespective of whether the arrest is lawful or not.

Question 10

Under what circumstances can a constable arrest without a warrant?

Answer 10

S 24 PACE

• Anyone who is about to commit an offence
• Anyone who is in the act of committing an offence
• Anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be about to commit an offence
• Anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be committing an offence.

Question 11

Castorina v Chief of Constable of Surrey [1988]

Answer 11

Decision to arrest is subject to the Wednesbury principle : ‘honest belief founded on reasonable suspicion leading an ordinary cautious man to the conclusion that the person arrested was guilty of the offence.’

Question 12

O’Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Constabulary [1997]

Answer 12

Reasonable suspicion can be based on information received by others

Question 13

Raissi v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2008]

Answer 13

1. Did the arresting officer suspect that the person who was arrested was guilty of the offence?
2. Assuming the officer had the necessary suspicion, was there reasonable cause for the suspicion? TBD by Judge
3. If the answer to the two previous questions is in the affirmative, then the officer has a discretion which entitles him to make an arrest .

Sir Anthony Clarke MR

Question 14

What are the procedural requirements for an arrest without a warrant?

Answer 14

S 28: person needs to be informed that s/he is under arrest and the grounds for the arrest.

S 30 1A: Person must be taken by a constable to a police station as soon as practicable after the arrest.

Question 15

What is the case for intimation of fact of arrest?

Answer 15

Alderson v Booth [1969]

Question 16

What are the cases for the intimation of the ground for the arrest?

Answer 16

Telfer (1976)
Clarke v Chief Constable of North Wales (2000)
Taylor v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police [2004]