Get these flashcards, study & pass exams. For free! Even on iPhone/Android!

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
(as amended by teh Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005)

The stop and search of people and vehicles in public places where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they are in possession of prohibited articles, stolen goods or articles made, adapted or intended for use in burglary or criminal damage (prohibited fireworks were added in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005)

Anywhere to which the public has access, whether by payment or otherwise

These include ... weapons, drugs and articles in connection with theft/burglary but not ‘tools of trade’

Use reasonable force

Seize any prohibited articles found

Memebrs of the public stopped and searched under PACE should be allowed to give their self-defined ethnicity when their details are taken

PC must give his/her name, number, station and reason for the search (if officer is in plain clothes they must also show their warrant card)

According to s.2(9) PACE, an officer may only request the removal of outer coat, jacket and gloves

A written record of the stop and search must be given the the defendant

There is NO definition of 'reasonable suspicion' in PACE but Code of Practice A (para 1.7) does say that reasonable grounds can never be made out on the basis of personal factors alone. For example, a person’s colour, age, hairstyle or manner of dress, or the fact that he is known to have a previous conviction for possession of an unlawful article, cannot be used alone or in combination with each other as the sole basis on which to search that person. Nor may it be found on the basis of stereo-typed images of certain persons or groups as being more likely to commit

In this case Lord Woolf attempted to formulate a test for the courts to use to determine whether an officer acted with reasonable suspicion

(a) Did the arresting officer suspect that the person arrested was guilty of the offence;

(b) were there reasonable grounds for that suspicion;

(c) did the officer exercise his discretion to make the arrest in accordance with Wednesbury principles (this means did he/she do what the reasonable officer in that situation would have done).

Police officers tried to search Osman and others as they entered a park on their way to a fair. Osman resisted and assaulted an officer in the process. However, the officers failed to give their names or station, the Divisional Court held that this made the search unlawful and therefore Mr Osman could not be guilty of assaulting the police in the execution of their duty, when he resisted the search.

Since the codes of practice were revised it is now unlawful for a police officer to ask a member of the public to voluntarily submit themsleves to a voluntray search.

The officer will not need to have grounds of reasonable suspicion when searching people or vehicles under this authority. Furthermore, the section is quite vague about what the officer is searching for.

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
Terrorism Act 2000
Sporting Events Act 1985
Knives Act 1997