Police Powers and PACE

What this unit covers

This unit sits in the Investigation and Rights of the Accused strand of Criminal law. It follows what the police can do, and what limits the law places on them, from the first stop in the street to the charge at the station.

The mind maps do most of the work. Several cover stop and search, including one on the principles governing stop and search, one on searches requiring reasonable grounds for suspicion, and one on the conduct of searches. Others deal with arrest, powers of detention and the custody officer, police interviews, and samples, split into intimate and non-intimate. The case law is here too, with cases such as Rice v Connolly, Ricketts v Cox and Paris appearing in the map excerpts.

Where to start

Begin with the flashcard deck on police powers that asks what Parliament has given the police powers for and which act sets out the main police powers. It gives you the basic frame. Then open the mind map on stop and question, which also covers stop and account and stop and search.

1. Read a broad mind map such as the one on stop and search.
2. Move to arrest, then detention, then interviews.
3. Look at the flashcards on the PACE codes of practice, which list Code A to Code H and what each one deals with.
4. Finish with confessions and unlawfully obtained evidence, including the mind map on inadmissible evidence.

Using quizzes and maps together

Take the quiz Police Powers: Powers of Arrest after you have read an arrest map. It asks what section 24 of PACE covers and what reasonable suspicion has to do with an arrest. Any question you miss tells you which branch of the map to reread.

Other quizzes include Police powers to investigate crime, Criminal Process (Police Powers) and Confessions and Statements Against Interest. Use them one topic at a time rather than all at once.

Who the resources suit

The resources come from a mix of levels. More than half are aimed at school students, and the listed material mentions GCSE Law and A-level Law. The rest suits university students and professional candidates. Teachers can use the maps, flashcards and the slide set on police powers as ready-made material. All of it was made by GoConqr users, so styles and depth vary. Compare two maps on the same topic and keep the one that makes sense to you.

Choose a topic that you find hardest, open a map, and test yourself with a quiz or a flashcard deck when you're done.