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Powers of arrest: community support officers

Wednesday 29 December 2004 at 12:24 pm | In News | Post Comment

From 23 December 2004 the chief officers of all forces in England and Wales will be able to designate community support officers with all the powers of detention under paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of Schedule 4 of the Police Reform Act 2002.

Community support officers designated with these powers will be able to require the name and address of a person who they have reason to believe has committed a relevant offence under paragraph 2(6)  (offences for which they can issue a fixed penalty ticket) or who is acting in an anti-social manner. If a person fails to give their name and address or gives a one which the community support officer believes to be false then the community support officer may detain the person for up to 30 minutes until the arrival of a constable. Alternatively a person may choose, if asked by the community support officer, to accompany the community support officer to a police station. A community support officer may use reasonable force to detain a person and to prevent a detained person from making off.

It is an offence to fail to give a community support officer a name and address when required or to make off during a detention. A person guilty of such an offence shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.