Police Powers and Police Accountability - The Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure (From Politics and Power Four, P 65-81, 1981, Diana Adlam et al, ed.)

• NCJ Number: 83118
• Author(s): P Jones
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 30 pages
• Sale Source: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

The report of the United Kingdom's Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure is examined, with attention to the weaknesses claimed by critics and the possibilities for constructive reform ignored by the report's critics.

Abstract

Critics of the report of the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure argue that it proposes the expansion of police powers to intrude upon the privacy of citizens and to detain them for interrogation. In relation to the law of stop and search, arrest, detention, and interrogation -- the points at which the critics direct most of their fire -- there are some legitimate concerns about the power given police, but there are many positive proposals for clarifying police practices that can enhance law enforcement and protection of the public, while excesses can be simply remedied. The report's section on 'grave offenses,' however, should be strenuously opposed. This provides that police practices in the investigation of specified serious crimes should include (1) the temporary detention of persons in the vicinity of the offense, (2) the power to search premises and seize evidence before a charge has been made, (3) the detention of a suspect for long periods, and (4) police discretion in permitting a suspect's access to an attorney. It is not correct, as the report's critics charge, that the safeguards against police abuse of power are only internal. They combine internal and external methods of review that offer the possibility of increased police accountability to the public. A total of 54 notes are listed.