Premises: Entry and Search

Question 1

Defining premises

Answer 1

Section 23 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) defines premises as any place and, in particular, includes:

any vehicles, vessels, aircraft, or hovercraft
any off-shore installation
any renewable energy installation
any tent or moveable structure

Question 2

Most powers of search, including powers to enter and search premises, require you to either have…

Answer 2

‘Reasonable grounds to suspect’ or ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ before you can use them.

It is important that you know which one is required when exercising a particular power.

Grounds to suspect requires a lower level of certainty than grounds to believe.

Both require objective reasoning and you must be able to convey your suspicion or belief to a third person such as a senior officer or a court.

There are no hard and fast rules about what constitutes reasonable grounds to suspect or believe and every situation must be assessed on its own merits.

Question 3

What constitutes reasonable grounds?

Answer 3

Under Code A of the Pace Act 1984 the grounds for reasonable suspicion has two parts:

1. A genuine suspicion in the mind of the officer that he/she will find the object for which the power of search is being used.
2. The suspicion must be reasonable, formed on an objective basis from facts, information, and/or intelligence which help make it likely that the object will be found, and that a reasonable person would also draw the same conclusions.

Grounds must be a true representation of the situation and can be derived from many different factors such as the individual’s behaviour, the location, and the time of day.

Question 4

A good starting point in determining whether you have grounds to enter and search premises for people or evidence is to ask yourself

Answer 4

‘Why do I suspect / believe that the person or evidence I am looking for is in these premises NOW’.

Another good test as to whether you have the necessary grounds to enter and search is to ask yourself ‘If I am wrong and I don’t find the person or evidence inside the premises, will I be able to justify what I have done?’

Question 5

The legal framework

There are three main areas where officers are given the authority to carry out entry and searches into premises. These are:

Answer 5

Using police powers without a warrant.
On the authority of a warrant issued by a court.
With the consent of the owner.

Any search of premises must fit into one of the three categories above. Any search that doesn’t will be unlawful.

Question 6

Which two overriding pieces of legislation that govern entry and searches of premises need to be considered first before any search and entry?

Answer 6

These are the Human Rights Act, and Code B of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Codes of Practice.

Question 7

What does the Human Rights Act 1998 mention with regards to entering and searching a person’s home, place of work or any other premises?

Answer 7

How the state (which includes the Police) should consider an individual’s fundamental rights before doing anything that may infringe upon them.

Question 8

In the context of entering premises the main Human Rights article to be considered is:

Answer 8

Article 5: The right to respect for private and family life.

Question 9

When considering your actions that may impact on Article 5 you should think PLAN:

Answer 9

Are your actions Proportionate to the desired outcome? Could you choose a less intrusive way of getting the same outcome?
Are your actions Legal? (i.e. covered by police powers or a warrant).
Are your actions Accountable and can they be justified to a senior officer or a court if necessary?
Are your actions Necessary – and are they done for the public good?

Question 10

Code B of the Codes of Practice sets out how officers are to carry out their duties when conducting entry and searches of premises, some examples include considerations that:

Answer 10

• Searches made under warrant must be made within three calendar months of the date of the warrant’s issue (6.1),
• Searches must be made at a reasonable hour of the day unless this might frustrate the purpose of the search (6.2),
• The person in charge of a search should normally be the most senior officer present unless a more junior officer is more appropriate, e.g. they may be nominated to be in charge of a search because of their knowledge of the case (2.10). Note, the officer in charge of a case means the officer assigned the specific duties.,
• If a search application is refused, a further application may not be made for those premises unless supported by additional grounds (3.8).