| 释义 |
arrestable offence
A former category of offence defined by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. Any offence carrying a fixed mandatory penalty or a sentence of at least five years’ imprisonment was automatically an arrestable offence. However, a large number of other crimes were also specified to be arrestable offences even though they did not fulfil these conditions. Where a police officer had reason to suspect that an arrestable offence either had been, or was about to be, committed he enjoyed specific powers of arrest, entry of premises, and search that did not apply in the case of a non-arrestable offence. The distinction between arrestable and other offences was abolished by the Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005, which effectively gives the police the power to arrest anyone where they have reason to consider this “necessary”. The other specific powers that applied in the case of arrestable offences have been transferred to the category of indictable offences. |