When can the police arrest you
Police can arrest you if they have a valid arrest warrant. There are also some situations where they can arrest you without a warrant. These are where:- you are in the act of committing certain offences
- they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you are committing certain offences
- they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you have committed certain offences
- you are about to commit certain offences
- they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you are about to commit certain offences.
- they do not know, and cannot get, your name
- they think you have given a false name
- you have not given a satisfactory address. This means an address where the police can contact you
- they think you have given a false address
- the arrest is necessary to prevent you causing physical injury to yourself or others, suffering physical injury, causing loss or damage to property, committing an offence against public decency, or causing an unlawful obstruction of the highway
- they have reasonable grounds for believing that arrest is necessary to protect a child or other vulnerable person.
Such was the operating procedure of the recent incumbent as Surrey Chief Constable. Whether or not similar orders are still operating under the new Chief of that force cannot be ascertained from its website. That former Chief Constable now heads the National Crime Agency where as is the fashion all major departments are now "commands". On May 16th she made what I presume was her policy speech in her new post. In her opening she included ,"How do we build public confidence and avoid appearing distant from the public? And how can we ensure that we are always acting with the public’s consent? "
My answer to her questions would be to admit that her policy in Surrey was flawed.