Using police powers to deal with suspects

Unit 5 of the Level 5 Diploma in Professional Policing Practice, with the law behind it and the pages on this site to read alongside.

What the unit covers

Using police powers to deal with suspects is unit 5 of the SFJ Awards Level 5 Diploma in Professional Policing Practice, at 120 guided learning hours and 22 credits. The handbook describes it as covering the legal framework and practical application of police powers so that officers can manage interactions with suspects in compliance with the law.

There are two learning outcomes. The first is understanding: the legal and statutory requirements attached to police powers when dealing with suspects, including how powers are used during arrests and warrants; the options available to a constable once an offence has been committed, of which arrest is only one; and the statutory processes that apply to a person detained in custody. The second is practical: arresting and detaining suspects within legal and organisational time scales, reporting suspects, applying alternative disposal options, following the process for detaining and escorting a suspect to custody, and taking a professional and ethical approach throughout.

The apprenticeship standard (ST0304) matches this with duty 6, using police powers to deal with suspects, and skill 11, which names arrest, report and alternative disposal as the three routes. Skill 14 adds that discretion in applying powers must be proportionate, legal, accountable and necessary.

The law and procedure behind it

This summary follows the site's own pages linked under Read on this site, which carry the section and Code citations; the sources listed above are the training documents, not the Acts. Read the Act or Code before relying on any point here.

The power of arrest without warrant is section 24 of PACE 1984, as rewritten by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 so that it applies to any offence. The test has two parts. The constable must have reasonable grounds to suspect the person is about to commit, is committing or has committed an offence, and must also have reasonable grounds to believe that arrest is necessary for one of the reasons in section 24(5), such as to establish a name or address, prevent injury, or allow a prompt and effective investigation. PACE Code G sets out the test. The person must be told they are under arrest and the ground for it, a rule that goes back to Christie v Leachinsky, and must be cautioned. An arrest can be reversed in the field by de-arrest if the grounds fall away. Section 32 allows a search of the arrested person for anything that could be used to escape or cause harm, or evidence of an offence.

At the station the custody officer, a sergeant independent of the investigation, decides whether detention is necessary to secure or preserve evidence or obtain it by questioning; if not, the person must be released. A custody record is opened and the three core rights explained: to have someone informed, to consult a solicitor free of charge, and to consult the Codes. The detention clock runs from arrival: 24 hours as standard, 36 with a superintendent's authority for an indictable offence, and up to 96 on a magistrates' warrant of further detention, with reviews by an inspector at six hours and then every nine.

Arrest is not the only route. A suspect may attend a voluntary interview under caution without being arrested. Out of court disposals include community resolutions, simple cautions, conditional cautions under section 22 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, penalty notices for disorder and fixed penalty notices. Where a prosecution follows, the charging decision for all but the most minor offences is made by the Crown Prosecution Service, and a suspect released before charge is either on pre-charge bail, subject to statutory time limits, or released under investigation.

Read on this site

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PACE

Rights

Glossary

Knowledge

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Where it sits in training

The College of Policing's 2026 joining guide gives the milestones every route shares: initial off-the-job learning within five to six months, a tutored patrol phase within ten months, and full operational competence at around two years, when the recruit is signed off as fully competent in operational duties. A recruit's first arrests are made on tutored patrol under the eye of an experienced officer.

In the diploma, the performance criteria for arresting, reporting, disposing of and escorting suspects are assessed after Independent Patrol Status has been confirmed, each evidenced at least twice in the Operational Competence Portfolio; the handbook maps them to the national Independent Patrol Status criteria. The knowledge criteria, including the statutory custody processes, are evidenced at least once and are typically covered in the off-the-job phase before the first patrol.

Sources

Last updated 19 October 2026. Reviewed 19 October 2026