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| Arrests for all offences proposed |
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| Date : 12-08-2004 08:56 Source : bbc |
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A Home Office consultation paper out on Thursday also proposes to make it easier to search suspects' premises.
Currently, police can generally arrest people only for crimes attracting jail terms of five years or more, but there are many exceptions to that rule.
Home Office minister Hazel Blears says the aim is to make laws "more simple".
Under the new plans, all such offences could in theory lead to an arrest, but there would be strict guidelines to determine when an arrest was appropriate.
Officials described their consultation document as a "tidying-up exercise" which would resolve confusion over the law, rather than result in many more arrests.
"What we are saying here is that in future all offences will be arrestable but that does not necessarily mean that everybody will be arrested because there will be a necessity test," Ms Blears told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
"A constable could come upon an offence and he might not be sure whether it is arrestable or not. In future that would be very clear.
"The range of offences on the statute book, some are serious arrestable offences, some are prosecutable by a summons - that's the way our legal system is .
"We are saying every offence arrestable but what we are also saying is that you have to show that it was necessary in these circumstances," she added.
'Arbitrary'
But Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said it was "disproportionate" to make offences which could not carry a prison sentence arrestable.
The broader the powers the police were given, the more they were used in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner, she claimed.
"If powers are truly needed then Parliament should debate them and perhaps pass them.
"But I have yet to hear any serious voice in policing in this country say that the problem the police faces is that they don't have powers to arrest people for dropping litter," she told Today.
Civilian wardens
The government is also considering allowing police to test anyone they have arrested for drugs, regardless of whether they have been charged with an offence.
Police believe that testing suspects at an earlier stage would help isolate drug users more efficiently.
The paper also proposed giving more powers to community support officers.
They could get greater powers to direct traffic, tackle beggars, search people for weapons and enforce bylaws, so that police officers were free to concentrate on front-line duties, the consultation paper said.
Police could also have the power to fingerprint drivers at the roadside, as well as at police stations.
The Home Office also wants to change the way search warrants work. They would be granted for any address connected to a suspect, not just a single address.
Searches
BBC crime correspondent Neil Bennett says if police currently want to search more than one property associated with a suspect, they have to apply to magistrates for a number of warrants.
He told Radio Five Live the Home Office was saying that a warrant should be made applicable to an individual, rather than a particular property.
"That will certainly cut down some paperwork and it will be welcomed by the police," he said.
He added: "Curiously, there was no great pressure from the police for these reforms - it's something that the Home Office has put out in the consultation paper and is waiting for reaction."
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