Only a police officer can stop and go onto search you, your clothes and anything you are carrying
You may be stopped as the officer may have grounds to suspect that you are carrying:
- Drugs, weapons or stolen property;
- Items that could be used:
- to commit crime
- to cause criminal damage
The grounds the police officer must have should be based on facts, information or intelligence or could be because of the way you are behaving. There are times, however, when police officers can search anyone within a certain area, for example:-
- Where there is evidence that serious violence has or may take place. (Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994)
The police officer should explain this to you and must be searching for items that could be used in connection with violence.
Prior to conducting a search under any power to search before or without arrest, a constable must take reasonable steps to bring the following to your attention:
- If the constable is not in uniform, proof that he or she is a constable, which Code A says must be by showing a warrant card.
- Information on police powers to stop and search and the individual’s rights in these circumstances.
- The constable’s name and police station.
- The object of the proposed search.
- The constable’s grounds for proposing to search.
- The availability of a search record and how to obtain one if one is not made at the time of the search.
The search may not be commenced until the constable gives you such information, and the information must be given even if not requested.
The Search
In carrying out a search the police may request, but cannot force you to remove any clothing in public other than an outer coat, jacket or gloves. This is so even if the street is empty. Code A permits the police to put their hands in the pockets of outer clothing and feel around inside collars, socks and shoes if this is reasonably necessary in the circumstances. Similarly, subject to the restriction on removal of headgear, they can search your hair in public. A more thorough search, for instance involving the removal of a hat or shoes, or a strip search may take place in private, but it must be near to where you were stopped. Thus it could take place, for example, in a police van. No search involving exposure of intimate parts of the body may take place in a police van. Code A states that such searches must be by a police officer of your sex and must be in the absence of any one of the opposite sex, unless you specifically request otherwise.
The power to search a vehicle includes a power to search anything in or on it. If an unattended vehicle is searched, a notice to this effect must be left behind, inside the vehicle if reasonably practicable. The notice must state the police station to which the constable is attached, that any claims for compensation should be made to that police station, and that you are entitled to a copy of the search record if requested within twelve months of the search.
A constable may use reasonable force, if necessary, in the detention and conduct of the search, but force can only be necessary if you are first given the opportunity to cooperate and refuse.
Seizure
The police may seize anything for which they have a power to search, for example, under PACE, stolen or prohibited items. However they may also seize any other item if it is not practicable to determine what it is at the time of search or if it is attached to an item which they do have power to seize.