Explain Why The Police Should Be Allowed To Break The Law Essay

Unfortunately at present Legal Aid service can not provide ongoing support in term of property settlement, as they used to. They can only provide general advice and refer people to private Legal services.

According to Crimes Act 1958 section 459 states, “powers of police officer to apprehend offenders”. Section 459 (1) states, “a police officer may at any time without warrant apprehend any person he believes on reasonable grounds has committed an indictable offence in Victoria or he believes on reasonable grounds has committed an offence elsewhere which if committed in Victoria would be an indictable offence against the law of Victoria. Crimes Act 1958, section 464A, states that “definition of detention of a person in custody”. Every person that has been taken into custody has to be either released unconditionally or released on bail. Section 464C states that the accused has the “right to communicate with friend, relative and legal practitioner”, (Austlii, n.d.). Evidence Act 2008, section 139 outlines the “cautioning of a person”, (Austlii, n.d.). This is when a statement is made by the investigator during an interview of an accused or at the time of an

The pre-trial powers which the state are provided with lie with the police force. They are empowered with the authority to arrest, interrogate and detain suspects. If the police see a person and suspect the are someone who is committing a known crime then, under s.13(1) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, they can either ask for an

If a officers question a suspect without first giving the Miranda rights, any statement or confession made is presumed to be involuntary, and cannot be used against the suspect in any criminal case. In other words it can't be used against you in any way.Any evidence gotten as a result of the confession will most likely be thrown out of the case. And will never be used against you. This is good because it preserves you liberty. So if they don't say the Miranda rights to you then they can't use the evidence they gathered against you. This ensures justice to the person in custody .

Every detainee must have a custody record opened for them when in police detention. All information is recorded here by the custody sergeant with relevant times and dates also recorded, verified by the custody officer’s signature (PACE act 1984). The Custody record is an ‘open’ document that must be made available to the defence, a detainee’s solicitor is entitled to see the custody record the moment of arrival at a designated police station and must be given a copy at request any time within 12 months of the detainee leaving police detention or coming before the courts. It is the Custody Sergeants responsibility to make sure that the custody record is kept up to date, accurate, and complete. The detainees must also be read out their three basic rights under code C of the PACE act, these rights are the right to have somebody informed of their arrest, the right to consult with a solicitor and be given free legal advice and the right to consult the codes of practice (YourRights 2007). The Custody officer must also assess mental health and identify any communication barriers; this may result in the need for an interpreter or possibly even the consultation of a doctor. They must also review any evidence relating to the investigation and decide whether there is a sufficient amount to charge or whether the detainee must be kept in custody so more evidence can be obtained. The custody officer must determine whether he

Police officers are faced each day with a variety of situation in which they must deal; therefore we should ask ourselves the following questions: Should police officers enforce the law equally in all situations? In what situations should police officers be allowed to not enforce the law? What types of situations would they be required to fully enforce the law? Why does police discretion exist? What are its strengths and weaknesses? And what is the relationship between police discretion and police ethics?

The child may not be questioned unless he and his parents or other person legally responsible for his care been advised of the child's right to remain silent and request to have an attorney. The police must make responsible efforts to notify a parent or other person legally responsible for the child's care and give them an opportunity to be present. A violation by the police bars the admission of any statement the child makes. If the police have made reasonable efforts to notify the parents or other legally responsible person, their absence at the time of questioning does not automatically bar the admission of any statement the child makes. Their absence at the time of questioning is one factor the court considers to determine whether the statements were made voluntarily.

Police makes the decision whether to investigate a crime based on the likelihood of success, available resources and priorities or the severity of the offence. Police can use several methods and authorised powers to assist their investigation. Most of NSW Police’s powers are listed out in the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW). Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW) is an act introduced in 2001, which outlines police powers and authority. Main police powers in investigating crime are: arrest, search and seizure, access to information (computerised operation policing system), interrogation and use force is necessary to carry out duties.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in

The ability to take advantage of the right to silence and right to see a solicitor in theory should help to alleviate some of this stress and consequently prevent false confessions which may constitute towards the 60% of confessions. However, in practise the evidence appears to show otherwise. The right to see a solicitor has been practised more adequately recently with

Police officers are faced each day with a vast array of situations with which they must deal. No two situations they encounter are ever the same, even when examines a large number of situations over an extended period of time. The officers are usually in the position of having to make decisions on how to handle a specific matter alone, or with little additional advice and without immediate supervision. This is the heart of police discretion. As we shall find, the exercise of discretion by police has benefits and problems associated with such exercise. The unfettered use of discretion can

There are several different types of force. These types of force include verbal commands or persuasion, physical force (unarmed), force using weapons that are non lethal, force that involves using weapons such as the bean bag gun or taser, and lastly, deadly force. All officers have to give way to each force option before last resorting to the use of deadly force, unless of course if the officer is in a life or death situation. This may be the only way to use deadly force in the first and last resort. They have a couple of weapons that they carry in case the need to use them arises. They carry a baton, tasers, handcuffs, guns and they also have police dogs. Some police do follow the guidelines for using force. Others may abuse their authority and not use force properly. It is really only up to the officers to do the right thing. Some cops are great and live to protect our communities while others abuse their authority.

Most people confuse police authority with police power. What are police authority and or police power? Souryal, (2007), stated, “That Authority is the right to control the behavior of others within legally determined parameter. These include constitutional and professional limitations, which are designed to resolve conflicts in an orderly fashion. Authority stems from the practitioner’s

Although some shows may show police officers using any means necessary to get a confession from people they take in for questioning, that is not the case. During police questioning there is no abuse allowed, they can’t use threats or coercion, and they can’t make any deals or promises with the suspect. If they have done any of these things to get a confession, then the confession can be thrown out and the police officers can be punished. The only lee way that police officers do have when questioning a suspect is that they can lie to the suspect. Besides deception, there is nothing else that they can do. When police officers are questioning a suspect that is a minor, they should have a parent with them; especially if the child asks for their parents. The lack of parental consult can also cause a confession to be thrown out.

Police have the uncontested right to use force when necessary to apprehend a suspect. If the force exceeds that which is necessary it is defined as excessive force and is illegal. An officer’s discretion on use of force is a based on judgment. They do not know if a judge will later rule an instance of use of force as excessive or not. There is a fine line between what is considered acceptable force and what is considered excessive force. All an