Police Powers in Great Britain

1
Police Powers in Great Britain

2
Police power

• The inherent authority of a government to impose
  restrictions on private rights for the sake of
• a) public welfare,
• b) order, and
• c) security.

3
UK police force and the Home Office

• The UK police force
• is a modern, responsive institution
  responsible for building safer and more secure
  communities for all.
• The Home Office (the lead government department
  for immigration and passports, drugs policy,
  counter-terrorism and police)
• is responsible for policing in England and
  Wales and the Scottish Executive is responsible
  for policing in Scotland.
• 43 police forces in England and Wales employing
  over 233,000 personnel
• - over 140,000 police officers,
• - nearly 78,000 police staff and
• - over 15,600 Police Community Support
  Officers
• - 14,500 Special Constables in England and
  Wales (volunteer police
• officers)

4
Operational Policing

• Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and
  accompanying Codes of Practice
• provide the core framework of police powers and
  safeguards around stop and search, arrest,
  detention, investigation, identification and
  interviewing detainees
• PACE sets out to strike the right balance between
  the powers of the police and the rights and
  freedoms of the public

5
PACE

• Code A
• Deals with the exercise by police officers of
  statutory powers to search a
• person or a vehicle without first making an
  arrest. It also deals with the
• need for a police officer to make a record of a
  stop or encounter.
• Code B
• Deals with police powers to search premises and
  to seize and retain
• property found on premises and persons.
• Code C
• Code C sets out the requirements for the
  detention, treatment and
• questioning of suspects not related to terrorism
  in police custody by police
• officers.
• Code D
• Concerns the main methods used by the police to
  identify people in
• connection with the investigation of offences and
  the keeping of accurate
• and reliable criminal records.

6
PACE

• Code E
• Deals with the audio recording of interviews with
  suspects in the police
• station.
• Code F
• Deals with the visual recording with sound of
  interviews with suspects. There
• is no statutory requirement on police officers to
  visually record interviews.
• However, the contents of this code should be
  considered if an interviewing
• officer decides to make a visual recording with
  sound of an interview with a
• suspect.
• Code G
• Deals with powers of arrest under section 24 the
  Police and Criminal Evidence
• Act 1984 as amended by section 110 of the Serious
  Organised Crime and
• Police Act 2005.
• Code H
• Code H sets out the requirements for the
  detention, treatment and
• questioning of suspects related to terrorism in
  police custody by police
• officers.

7
Read the text. Match the questions with the
paragraphs and answer them.

• a) What are the main police powers?
• b) What should the use of force the
• police are entitled to be like?
• c) From what point of view is the law
• related to police powers important?

8
II Read about the four main police powers in the
UK and fill in the tables.

• I ARREST

LAWFUL UNLAWFUL
THE ARRESTED PERSON/ SUSPECT
THE POLICEMAN
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II SEARCH
LAWFUL UNLAWFUL
THE SEARCHED PERSON
THE POLICEMAN
10
III ENTRY
LAWFUL UNLAWFUL
THE OCCUPIER
THE POLICE
11
IV SEIZURE
LAWFUL UNLAWFUL
THE OWNER
THE POLICE
12
III Find the English equivalents for the
following Croatian legal terms.

• statutarni prekršaj
• kazneno djelo protupravnog oduzimanja slobode
• pobjeci iz pritvora
• izvršiti uhicenje
• opirati se uhicenju
• ciniti/imati obilježja napada
• uci na imanje/ u prostorije
• uhicenja na osnovu naloga
• ciniti štetnu radnju/delikt ometanja posjeda
• izbaciti uljeza
• zadržati stvari
• namjerno otudivanje imovine
• štetna radnja protupravnog zadržavanja ili
  otudenja
• dobiti odštetu

13
IV Find synonyms or explain the following words
and phrases.

• a scuffle
• to be reversed
• to be entitled to
• to retaliate