The second theme of State of Wales’ look at the justice system and independence moves to the police. As is the drill, it’s worth looking first of all at where we are now in terms of policing.
There’ll be two posts this week. This first piece looks in more general terms at policing in Wales and the second (Part Vb) will look at some of the current issues facing the police.
As the UK doesn’t have a written/codified constitution, there’s no single place that lists all the powers the police does and doesn’t have. Most of this is left to legislation – though as mentioned previously (Part I), the Senedd has no policing powers. All policing law in England and Wales is currently decided at the UK Parliament.
There are several key pieces of legislation outlining what the police can and can’t do, the most important of which include:
Police & Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984 – This is the foundation of modern policing law. It sets out the police’s powers (most of which are still in force) concerning stop and search, entry and seizure, arrest and detention, collection of evidence (including computer evidence, fingerprints, footprints and DNA) and obtaining confessions. The PACE Act is governed by several codes of practice that have been updated in subsequent years (Part VII).
Police Act 1996 – Updated legislation (in place since 1919) which ban the police from taking part in strikes and made it a specific offence to assault a police officer.
Police Reform Act 2002 – Reformed how police complaints are handled and also created the role of Police Community Support Officer (PCSOs) focused on neighbourhood policing and community outreach work.
Criminal Justice Act 2003 – “Stop and search” powers were extended to include suspected anti-social behaviour and criminal damage. It allowed non-police officers to take part in searches as long as they were accompanied by a police officer and also introduced conditional police cautions.
Serious & Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 – Established the Serious Organised Crime Agency (now the National Crime Agency) to deal with (as mentioned earlier) organised crime, cybercrime, serious fraud/economic crime, people trafficking and child exploitation. Arrest powers were extended to allow police officers to arrest anyone (without a warrant) they suspect of committing or about to commit an offence. It also created “designated areas” where trespassing became a specific criminal offence.
Police Reform & Social Responsibility Act 2011 – Established directly-elected Police & Crime Commissioners in England and Wales.
Policing & Crime Act 2017 – Made changes to how police bail is granted and introduced a general 28-day limit for a suspect released on bail to be charged or not – though this can be extended by up to three months by a senior police officer. However, it also introduced “release under investigation” (RUI) powers which are theoretically open-ended but, crucially, come without conditions – which has been criticised by victims groups and could put some victims of crime (like domestic abuse) at risk.
The next significant piece of police legislation – currently going through the UK Parliament at time of posting – is the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Concerning policing, the Bill aims to grant the police extra powers to restrict “nuisance” protests and has been described as an attack on the right to protest and free speech (Part Vb).
