FreeB.E.A.G.L.E.S.: Legal Advice for Activists (v4)

If you are arrested you should be told by the arresting officer that you are under arrest and the reason why - make a note of this. You should then be taken to the nearest police station, unless the police want to issue you with “street bail” – see section 4. You have the right to remain silent, and you should exercise this at all times, other than to give your name and address. You don’t have to say anything, but if the police cannot establish your name and address you won’t get bail if you are charged with an offence.

When you arrive you will be booked in by the custody sergeant, who then becomes responsible for your detention at the police station. His job is to ensure that your rights are complied with and to keep a “custody record” of your detention. He should inform you of the following:

The police can never delay your right to have someone informed of your arrest or to speak to a solicitor unless you have been arrested for a “serious arrestable offence”. We advise that you speak to a solicitor straight away. This will enable you to have people informed that you are under arrest and let the police know that you know your rights and are not a soft touch.

If you choose not to exercise any of your rights when you are booked in, you may still exercise them at any point in the future. You should work on the assumption that any phone conversation you make will be listened in to by the police. Despite what the police may say, do not sign to say that you do not wish to speak to a solicitor or have someone informed of your arrest.

If you are in any doubt as to the reason why you are being detained then ask the custody sergeant, who is under a duty to tell you.

You will be searched and you will have your personal belongings including any watch or belt taken from you and placed in a bag. Under recent legislation, the custody sergeant is no longer obliged to log all your personal property and may do so at his discretion. If your property is logged, you will be asked to sign a form to confirm that this is your property, so – if you choose to sign - make sure the inventory is correct, and sign directly underneath the last item, so the police can’t add anything afterwards. You will then be taken to a cell, where you will usually have to wait a few hours before being interviewed or released.

As part of your custody record, the custody sergeant will ask you for your date of birth, occupation, height and other details. You are under no obligation to answer any of these questions and you should not feel pressurized in to doing so.

3.2 Stay calm and don't panic

The most important point to remember during your time in police custody is to stay calm and relaxed and not to talk to the police. The experience of being arrested for the first time can be quite unnerving. The whole process is designed to scare and intimidate you. Many people find the hardest part is being alone and powerless in a cell, with the added disorientation that you do not know the time, as your watch will have been taken from you.

You may feel that you should just tell them anything in order for them to let you go. If the police sense that you are unfamiliar with the process, they will use all manner of tricks to make you think that it is in your best interests to give an interview, so don’t fall in to this trap. Stay calm, stay quiet and you will usually be out within a few hours.

3.3 Injuries

If you have any injuries – for example bruising from handcuffs - make sure these are logged by the custody sergeant/ You can also insist on seeing the police doctor, who should make a note of your injuries. This may not only help you with any criminal charges brought against you, but may also get you more money if you sue the police later.

3.4 Solicitors

A free duty solicitor is available at the police station. Sometimes the duty solicitor can be very good, but it’s usually better to speak to your own one as many duty solicitors are ex-police officers and often will have more in common with the police than they do with you. In any case, you’re better off speaking to a solicitor experienced in dealing with protest cases – see the list at section 27. If you know the name or firm of your solicitor, the police should be able to locate them, but it’s better if you already have their phone number on you.

3.5 Interviews

Do not agree to be interviewed without a solicitor present. Any interview will be tape-recorded and you are entitled to have a solicitor present free of charge, regardless of your income. These safeguards exist to prevent the police from fabricating evidence or being too aggressive.

Before questioning you the police must caution you along the following lines: “You have the right to remain silent, but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention now anything which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be used against you.”

You have the right to remain silent and you should exercise this right during interview and at all other times. If the police sense that you are scared or in any way unsure, they may use any number of tricks to try to get you talking. Eg:

These are all just tricks to get you talking. The only reason you are being interviewed is because the police are seeking more evidence to charge you with an offence. The interview is for their benefit, not yours.

One trick they sometimes use is to say that the main activists – “the ringleaders” – won’t risk getting arrested themselves and are using you and letting you take the rap. Don’t be taken in by it. This is a classic ploy adopted by the police to turn people against each other in order to gain evidence. They have arrested you, because the arresting officer thinks you are guilty of an offence. The custody sergeant has authorized your detention in order to gain more evidence to secure a conviction by questioning you.

Anything you say outside the taped interview may also be used in evidence against you – for example an informal chat in the police car after you have been arrested. The police often try to engage you in friendly conversation as they are taking your fingerprints or DNA – make no mistake, this is an attempt to gather evidence and you should not be taken in by it. If you are in any doubt about this, have a look at news archives on the internet and you will find any number of cases in which evidence was produced of what a suspect said outside the interview room.
You should also be aware that the police sometimes bug police cells and any evidence obtained in this way is admissible in court.

3.6 Right to silence and the “Adverse Inference”

Despite what the police or anyone else might tell you, the right to silence has not been abolished. A magistrate or jury may take in to account the fact that you remained silent during interview and draw an “adverse inference” from this (ie this could count towards evidence that you are guilty). Because of this solicitors sometimes advise suspects to make a short statement to the police. Our advice however is to remain silent for the following reasons.
Firstly, the police are only interviewing you because they are looking for evidence in order to charge you. They cannot charge you simply on the basis that you refused to make a statement.

Secondly by talking to the police, you may not only implicate yourself in crime, but also others as well. Your interview could lead to other people being arrested and charged. They may then make statements implicating you.Your solicitor may not care what happens to other activists, but you should.

Thirdly, most people – even experienced activists - find that once they have started talking it is very difficult to stop. If you try to lie you may soon end up tying yourself in knots and making matters worse.

3.7 Photographs, Fingerprints & DNA

Photographs
The police can take the photograph of anyone under arrest, and use force if necessary. This power was introduced in the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 in the wake of the September 11th attacks on America.

Fingerprints / DNA
The police can now take the fingerprints and DNA of anyone who has been arrested for a “recordable offence”. The National Police Records Regulations 2000 defines an offence as “recordable” if it is punishable by imprisonment or if it is a “specified offence”. This covers just about every public order offence other than “breach of the peace”. Unless your arrest was unlawful, the police may keep your fingerprints and DNA on file indefinitely regardless of whether or not you are subsequently charged with or convicted of an offence.

3.8 Processing, holding and release

a) How long will I be held?
The police can hold you for up to 36 hours, if you have been arrested for an “arrestable offence”. However, if you have been arrested for an offence that is not strictly speaking “arrestable”, then the maximum time they can hold you is still 24 hours as before. The Home Office guidelines indicated that the power to detain for up to 36 hours should be exercised sparingly. See “Police Powers of Arrest” (page 15) for more on “arrestable offences”.

The period of detention begins from when you arrive at the police station, and not from the time of your arrest. For most minor public order offences, you are unlikely to be detained for longer than 6 hours. An officer of the rank Inspector or higher has to authorise your continued detention after the first 6 hours, then every 9 hours after that.

In serious cases, the police can apply to magistrates to detain you for longer – up to a maximum of 96 hours without charge.

b) What happens next?
Once the police have processed you, taken your fingerprints / DNA and interviewed you, they will have to decide whether or not to charge you with an offence.

c) Release After Charge
If the police charge you, this means that they think they have sufficient evidence to secure a conviction. You will usually then be bailed to appear before magistrates within the next couple of weeks. You are only likely to be refused bail if you have been charged with a serious offence, or the police cannot establish your name and address, or if you are already on bail for other offences. If so, the police have to bring you before the first available magistrates’ court where they will apply for you to be remanded in custody. If this happens consult a solicitor straight away.

If you do get bail it may well have conditions attached. These typically include conditions not to enter a certain area, not to approach certain people and to reside at a certain address.

If you feel that the bail conditions are too harsh you can ask the custody sergeant to review them. If he insists on imposing the conditions, then you can either accept them or stay overnight until court the next day and challenge them there. If you do accept the conditions, you can still challenge them at your next court appearance. The prosecution may also apply in court for extra conditions that were not originally imposed by the police.

d) Release Without Charge
If the police decide they have not got enough evidence with which to charge you, they have to let you go – even if they haven’t established your name and address. You may be either released unconditionally or released on “police bail” under a duty to appear at a specified police station at a later date. This will be to enable the Crown Prosecution Service to decide what offence, if any, to charge you with.

The police cannot presently attach conditions to this kind of bail, other than that you attend a police station at the time and date specified. However under the new law due to come in to force around the end of 2004, the police will sometimes be able to conditions on police bail even when you have not been charged. This will be when they have enough evidence to charge you, but need to refer the case to the CPS (see “Release on Police Bail”, section 4).

f) Bail Offences
If you are bailed to appear in court or at a police station and fail to do so, you could commit an offence under Section 6 of the Bail Act 1976. In your defence you can say that you had a “reasonable excuse” – eg you were sick or stuck in traffic. It is not a criminal offence to breach any other bail conditions, but if you are caught the police will probably arrest you and put you before magistrates.

This article is for information purposes only; its aim is to let people to know their full rights under UK law. Nothing on these pages is absolute as the law is always changing; if in doubt contact a trusted solicitor for further advice. We do not encourage you to break the law.

Please feel free to copy and distribute these articles to fellow activists, but do not alter the text in any way. These articles are anti-copyright for non-commercial purposes. Please visit www.freebeagles.org for the latest version of our articles and to learn about the freeBEAGLES Ethical Open Document License under which this document is distributed.

If you see any errors, or we have missed any changes to the legal situation please contact us as soon as possible, at info@freebeagles.org, as wrong information can prove costly to people's freedom.

LEGAL ADVICE FOR ACTIVISTS:

3. At the Police Station

Contents