• 🇬🇧󠁿 🇸🇪 🇿🇦 🇮🇪 🇬🇭 🇩🇪 🇪🇺
    European & African
    Drug Discussion

    Welcome Guest!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
  • EADD Moderators: Shambles

Question re arrest v detainment

C

class-a-team

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
877
Can anyone tell me if being put in handcuffs and brought to a police station to be searched necessarily constitutes an arrest? I would have thought so except for the individual in question was not told he was under arrest, or for what reason, or given any document informing him of his rights. After being searched at the station he was released without charge. So is there a difference between being taken in for a search involuntarily and being arrested? This happened in the Republic of Ireland but I would imagine the procedure would be the same as in the UK.
 
Police have the power to 'detain' you indefinitely in order to conduct a search, but can't actually place you under arrest until they have that evidence.

In practice, there's very, very little distinction between the two, though the officer conducting the search should really make the person aware that they aren't under arrest. Even though that doesn't mean you won't be pursued if you try to do one - you most certainly will.

By the letter of the law, the police should have 'reasonable grounds' to conduct any such search in the first place. In reality, it's very difficult in a lot of circumstances to prove this one way or another.
 
Thanks a lot Sammy although I probably should've explained the situation better.

Say two people are walking down the street. Person A drops a bag of what is believed to be an illegal substance. The police see this and both Person A and Person B are put in handcuffs and brought to a police station, not told that they're being arrested. Both are booked in and searched. Nothing is found on either of them, but Person A has already been caught with that bag which was found on the street. Person B is let go. Has Person B been arrested or detained? Is it lawful to use Person A's "evidence" to arrest person B?
 
Person B has definitely been detained rather than arrested, but unless there's reasonable doubt about whether it was Person A or Person B who dropped the bag (which there shouldn't be, if Person A is being charged for possession of said bag) then it'd be extremely difficult to pursue any charge against Person B. In theory.
 
Sammy G said:
Person B has definitely been detained rather than arrested, but unless there's reasonable doubt about whether it was Person A or Person B who dropped the bag (which there shouldn't be, if Person A is being charged for possession of said bag) then it'd be extremely difficult to pursue any charge against Person B. In theory.
Click to expand...

Aww sweet, thank you!
 
Irish Scu... Police are particularily irritating regarding this aspect, I have had to ask them outright wtf was going on before,

What usually happens for me:

I will getr stopped by cun.. police (usually with something on my person, spliff, bag of weed..56g opium :|) This will give them[JUMPTO] grounds to cuff me and bring me back to the police station for a chinwag, usually around this point im starting to get filled with regret...
[/JUMPTO]
I will be put in a small clinical room and 4 pigs in 2 by 2 goodcop/badcop formation come in, usually crap bout what i was doing, why, where how when etcetcetc)

Then, depending if i've done it (been arrested) I will be fingerprinted, photographed etc and then shoved in a cell for however long,

if its just a caution I would be out the door after I'd finished the explaining bit, and I have been in hand cuffs for both arrest and caution
 
Last edited:
breakcorefiend said:
Irish Scu... Police are particularily irritating regarding this aspect, I have had to ask them outright wtf was going on before,

What usually happens for me:

I will getr stopped by cun.. police (usually with something on my person, spliff, bag of weed..56g opium :|) This will give them[JUMPTO] grounds to cuff me and bring me back to the police station for a chinwag, usually around this point im starting to get filled with regret...
[/JUMPTO]
I will be put in a small clinical room and 4 pigs in 2 by 2 goodcop/badcop formation come in, usually crap bout what i was doing, why, where how when etcetcetc)

Then, depending if i've done it (been arrested) I will be fingerprinted, photographed etc and then shoved in a cell for however long,

if its just a caution I would be out the door after I'd finished the explaining bit, and I have been in hand cuffs for both arrest and caution
Click to expand...

Ok so really you are only arrested once they have found something on you, correct? This question might seem irrelevant since nothing came of it either way, but the person in question might want to travel to the US in the future and in order to do so under the Visa Waiver Programme one must answer the question "have you ever been arrested or convicted of anything?" :?
 
class-a-team said:
Ok so really you are only arrested once they have found something on you, correct?
Click to expand...

Yep. Unless they actually witness you committing a crime or have a warrant for your arrest, they can only detain you and carry out a search for evidence. No evidence, no grounds for arrest.

Person B has nothing to worry about with regard to entering the US.
 
Sammy G said:
Yep. Unless they actually witness you committing a crime or have a warrant for your arrest, they can only detain you and carry out a search for evidence. No evidence, no grounds for arrest.

Person B has nothing to worry about with regard to entering the US.
Click to expand...

I really hope you're right! How do you know this anyway? I've been researching the issue a lot but I have yet to find a convincing answer.
 
I'm 99% certain I'm right, just based on a wee bit of reading, and talking the geral guidelines regarding 'posession' into amount.

I'm never going to convince you though, am I? Eh? :D
 
Mate you will be fine, I got chased by the gammon then sniffer dogged and taken to the station for a strip search and as they found nothing we were sent on our way and it is not recorded as anything at all. You are safe and have nothing to worry about.
 
Alright lol I believe you. I'm always really anxious about these things anyway. Usually when Im packing to go abroad I have to check my suitcase over and over to make sure I don't have any drugs on me, even if I haven't used drugs in ages, because when I was using drugs I used to hide them in weird places and I would often forget where I left them 8) so I check pockets and compartments over and over again and then when I'm going through customs I'm still fucking terrified that they'll find something. Airports are just unbelievably scary to me!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top