Self Check Q&A

Consider the below questions to check your understanding of topics covered in the book. Click on the question to reveal the answer.

1. How did Sir Robert Mark characterise the power of the police over the citizen?

Answer: He suggested that the key feature was that police officers had the power to inconvenience citizens.

2. What was introduced in 1912 to govern the treatment of those held in custody?

Answer: the Judges Rules

3. What is the general condition for the police powers to stop and search an individual under Section 1 of PACE?

Answer: that the officer has ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the individual is in possession of stolen or prohibited items

4. How does PACE define a ‘public place’?

Answer: those places to which the public have access, whether upon payment or otherwise, but is not a dwelling

5. What legislation prohibits police officers from discriminating on grounds such as race, gender, or disability?

Answer: the 2010 Equality Act

6. What documents cannot be searched under the terms of general search warrant?

Answer: items identified as legally privileged. For example, communication between a client and professional legal advisor, including journalistic documents, medical records, and items held in confidence for business purposes

7. Under what circumstances can magistrates issue a warrant for arrest?

Answer: when the identity of an offender is known but the person cannot be located or when an individual has failed to attend court in response to a summons

8. What conditions does PACE stipulate justify detaining an individual in custody prior to their being charged with an offence?

Answer: the detention of a person is only legal if it is necessary to allow further enquiries to be made, for example, to prevent that person from destroying evidence or interfering with witnesses

9. Why does a concentration on the legal powers granted to the police provide only a partial understanding of police work?

Answer: because a focus on the legal framework of police powers reflects a jurisprudential approach to policing that fails to address the cultural and sociological determinants of police practice

10. How did Loader and Mulcahy characterise the power of senior police officers to identify and define crime problems?

Answer: the ‘power of legitimate naming’