do we have a link to PACE (BLUEBOTTLE)

[miliitant]

ME THINKS BLUEBOTTLE IS THE MAN FOR THIS ONE

can anybody provide a link to the statutory legislation that is pace

Police and Criminal Evidence Act

that will be the one with all the relevant sections and subsections given to a police constable


it is the actual powers they have and not code of conduct etc

[bluebottle]

Re: do we have a link to PACE (BLUEBOTTLE)

Because PACE is a fairly lengthy epitome, the link for it is www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/60/contents

The Codes of Practice, should you wish to refer to them, are at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/powers/pace-codes/

Don't forget that other statutes confer powers on police officers as well as PACE. Is there any particular issue you are seeking to clarify?

[miliitant]

Re: do we have a link to PACE (BLUEBOTTLE)

i am just keeping up my knowledge base

ive done the cca 1974, now its the turn of PACE

what interests me is when a police office abuses his statutory powers with stop and search

to conduct a stop and search or detain an individual, a police office must have adaquate suspicion, and not just a sterotype hunch or he will open up the police authority to a claim for damages

but the suspicion angle as such is not defined

is their a part of pace that sets parameters on how a police constable defines suspicion

say, you fit the discription, or you have been seen to leave that address for example, something set in stone

i repeat, this is just for my own research, nothing else

[bluebottle]

Re: do we have a link to PACE (BLUEBOTTLE)

Hi Miliitant,

What you highlight is a common hot potato, especially where some ethnic communities are concerned. In order to stop and search, a police officer must have reasonable cause for stopping the person and then searching them, usually, that they are in possession of stolen property. "Reasonable cause" has never really been clearly-defined in law or in the courts. It must be more than just a hunch. Say, for example, there has been a stabbing and a police officer stops a person who fits the description of the assailant and has what appears to be fresh bloodstains on their clothing. Under these circumstance, the police officer has reasonable cause to suspect the person has been involved in some incident in which blood has been spilt. The police officer then searches the person and finds a knife. That is how Parliament intended Stop and Search powers to be used. Unfortunately, there are police officers who abuse their powers, either because they don't like being challenged about their attitude or conduct, or because the person they intend to search is a member of an ethnic community. It is the police force, not the police authority, that is liable for any damages claim. The police authority is a separate body from the police force and has no part in the operational policy. A police authority is a statutory body that is concerned with the financial cost of policing a given area, but cannot interfere with or influence how a chief constable deploys officers or enforces the law.

Suspicion is something I have had to justify in court and it is good that English Criminal Law has this requirement that a police officer is required to justify their actions to ensure people are not indiscriminately or wrongfully stopped, searched and/or accused of an offence without good reason.

What you refer to in the penultimate line of your post, Miliitant, will, most probably, be found in Criminal Case Law, not PACE.

BB

i am just keeping up my knowledge base

ive done the cca 1974, now its the turn of PACE

what interests me is when a police office abuses his statutory powers with stop and search

to conduct a stop and search or detain an individual, a police office must have adaquate suspicion, and not just a sterotype hunch or he will open up the police authority to a claim for damages

but the suspicion angle as such is not defined

is their a part of pace that sets parameters on how a police constable defines suspicion

say, you fit the discription, or you have been seen to leave that address for example, something set in stone

i repeat, this is just for my own research, nothing else