Unit 17: Police Powers in the Public Services
Assignment 1- Powers of Arrest P1
In the police force there are two different types of arrest that police officers can perform this can either be with or without a warrant.

Arrest with a warrant
A warrant will be issued under the section 1 of Magistrates Court Act (1980).
A warrant is a document which is granted through the magistrates court this is because they need to know if the crime is worthy and it is applied for by the police so that the public cannot access one. The document of the warrant must also include, the name of the offender and what crime that the suspect has been accused of committing. There are many reasons why the police will want a warrant it might be to get a person to come to court whilst being a witness or to arrest a suspect.

The verdict of the warrant is completely up to the magistrate so if they decide to not grant the police a warrant then they can arrest the suspect on suspicion or if its a drug crime raid the house of the suspect. If the warrant is then granted the police officers can then make an arrest and are now allowed to use reasonable force to gain entry into the property where they think the suspect must be. The reasons why warrants are issued are failure to come to court, breach of bail conditions and the failure to pay any fines.

Arrests without a warrant
Police are called to the scene of the incident, when they are called they need to act quickly and make a decision there and then using their discretion. During the day police officers will be sent out to patrol an area they don't know who they could be dealing with so they can't get granted a warrant.

Citizens Arrest
For a citizen to actually be able to arrest someone the crime must be being committed or has already been committed. Also it has to be a indictable offence in order for it to happen, it isn’t used very often because it can be safer to leave it to the police. A citizen arrest is not actually arresting the person it is detaining the offender, you can hold the offender for thirty minutes or until the police arrive.

The differences between an arrest with or without a warrant
One of the main differences is that a warrant is a document which is granted through the magistrates court and is applied for by the police, an arrest without a warrant can happen in the street if an officer sees something happening. The difference is that the arrest with a warrant is on suspicion so that they can get suspects by surprise and an arrest without a warrant is when they've seen a criminal actually commit a crime. When police are patrolling or when they get called out to the scene of an incident is when they arrest without a warrant because they do not know what they are looking for and a warrant arrest is planned in order to access the warrant from the magistrates court.

Conclusion
It is important that the police have these two types of arrests because it means that they can make sure that all criminals are brought to justice. If they did not have an arrest with a warrant then the police will not be able to arrest for things like drugs raids or on suspicion so its important to have that type of arrest. Also having a arrest without a warrant is good because it means that you can arrest or prevent someone from a crime. Its also good to know what a citizens arrest is so that people know what to do but it is always best to leave the arresting to the police.