Arrestable offence is an obsolete term in English and Welsh law. It was created by the Criminal Law Act 1967 to replace felony. The original legislation was replaced and amended by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which itself was significantly amended to increase powers of arrest over the next two decades. The 1984 Act also gave police certain powers in relation to these offences including entry to premises, arrest, searches following arrest and certain provisions whilst detained in custody. The concept of the arrestable offence was abolished by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 20051 which came into force on 1 January 2006.2
Section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 defined an arrestable offence as:
- An offence for which the sentence is fixed by law; i.e. murder.
- Offences for which a person 18 years old or older, who had not previously been convicted, could be sentenced to a term of 5 years or more. This constituted the vast majority of offences, including theft, serious assault, burglary and criminal damage.
- Offences that were listed in Schedule 1A of the Act, which contained a long list of offences that do not attract a 5 year sentence but were considered to require the powers an 'Arrestable Offence' designation confers. Examples included possession of an offensive weapon, ticket touting and driving whilst disqualified.
Section 25 provided further powers of arrest for "non-arrestable offences" in certain circumstances. This had no equivalent in the original 1967 legislation.
With the increasing number of newly created offences being included in Schedule 1A and thus being made arrestable, it was perhaps unsurprising that the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 abolished the category of arrestable offence, replacing the dual rules with a single set of criteria for all offences. The question now for police is whether it is "necessary" to arrest the relevant person, by reference to various broadly-drafted statutory criteria.
The general arrest conditions are -
- that -
- that the name of the relevant person is unknown to, and cannot be readily ascertained by, the constable;
- that the constable has reasonable grounds for doubting whether a name furnished by the relevant person as his name is his real name;
- that -
- the relevant person has failed to furnish a satisfactory address for service; or
- the constable has reasonable grounds for doubting whether an address furnished by the relevant person is a satisfactory address for service;
- that the constable has reasonable grounds for believing that arrest is necessary to prevent the relevant person—
- causing physical injury to himself or any other person;
- suffering physical injury;
- causing loss of or damage to property;
- committing an offence against public decency; or
- causing an unlawful obstruction of the highway;
- that the constable has reasonable grounds for believing that arrest is necessary to protect a child or other vulnerable person from the relevant person.3
References
Bibliography
- Zander (2005). The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (5th ed.). Sweet & Maxwell. ISBN 0-421-90580-8
