Police have a lot of powers not afforded to ordinary citizens in carrying out their work. The most well-known power is the power to arrest.
A Police Officer can arrest you if:
- They catch you committing an offence.
- They have reasonable grounds to suspect you have committed an offence.
- You have breached bail conditions.
- There is a warrant out of your arrest.
- You are breaching the peace.
- They need to serve an AVO on you.
Interestingly private citizens are also afforded some of these powers, known as a “citizens arrest”. An ordinary citizen can arrest you if you are committing an offence or you have committed an offence.
There are certain obligations that police have when they are arresting you. For example, they should tell you that you are under arrest, tell you why you have been arrested and the police officer should also indicate to you his or her name and the local area command in which they work.
Police officers are allowed by law to use as much force as is necessary to arrest you. Unreasonable force by a police officer can constitute assault however the best way to ensure that you are not victim to any type of unnecessary force is to cooperate with police if they are arresting you.
It is important that you remember that if you are resisting arrest, even if you think you are not guilty of the offence of which you are accused, you are committing an offence. Further, if you are violent while resisting arrest you could also be charged with assaulting police.
After being placed under arrest, you will be taken to a police station. It is at this point that you have the right to contact a lawyer if you wish to do so. Police are only required to wait for a period of two hours for your lawyer to arrive.
Being arrested is an incredibly stressful process even if you are guilty of the offence of which you are accused. The best course of action is to cooperate with police and contact a lawyer as soon as possible who can advise you of your rights.
