Question 1

What are police stop and search powers, and what are your rights?

Accepted Answer

Powers to stop and search a person or vehicle in defined circumstances — and the key distinction is between searches requiring **reasonable grounds for suspicion** and the much rarer powers that do not.

**The main power.** An officer may search you where they have **reasonable grounds to suspect** you are carrying stolen goods, drugs, a weapon, or something to be used in crime.

**What "reasonable grounds" requires:** an objective basis, specific to you. It **cannot** be based on personal factors alone — race, age, appearance, previous convictions, or the fact of being in a particular area. A hunch is not grounds, and generalisations are explicitly excluded.

**The suspicionless powers**, which are exceptional:

**Section 60**, authorised by a senior officer for a defined area and period where serious violence is anticipated. Within that authorisation, no individual suspicion is needed.

**Terrorism powers**, similarly authorised, and port and border powers with their own regime.

**What an officer must tell you** before searching — remembered by the mnemonic **GOWISELY**: their **grounds**, the **object** of the search, their **warrant card** if not in uniform, their **identity**, their **station**, your **entitlement** to a record, the **legal power** used, and that you may be detained for the search.

**What you can be asked to remove in public:** outer coat, jacket and gloves. **Anything more must be out of public view**, and removal of more than outer clothing requires an officer of the same sex and, in some cases, a different location and additional safeguards.

**Your rights:**

**You do not have to give your name or address** for a standard stop and search, and refusing is not an offence.

**You are entitled to a record** of the search, at the time or later.

**You may ask the officer's name and station**, and they must provide it.

**Reasonable force may be used** if you resist, and obstructing a lawful search is an offence — so the practical advice is to **comply and complain afterwards** rather than resist.

**Complaints** go to the force and then to the independent body.

**Disproportionality** in the use of these powers is a long-standing, well-documented issue.

General information, not legal advice.

Question 2

What is a DBS check and what shows up?

Accepted Answer

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check reveals criminal record information for employment and volunteering purposes in England and Wales. There are levels, and which level applies is determined

Question 3

What actually happens when you are arrested?

Accepted Answer

A defined custody procedure with specific rights attached at each stage — and knowing the sequence matters, because the most consequential decisions are made in the first hour when people are least

Question 4

Who decides whether to prosecute someone?

Accepted Answer

In England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decides in most cases — not the police, and not the victim. That separation is deliberate and is the point of the arrangement. Why the CPS

Question 5

What is the difference between a police force, the NCA and the IOPC?

Accepted Answer

Three organisations frequently conflated: territorial police forces investigate crime locally; the National Crime Agency tackles serious and organised crime nationally; and the Independent Office for

Question 6

What rights does a victim of crime actually have?

Accepted Answer

A set of entitlements set out in a statutory code — which many victims do not know exists, and which places obligations on police, prosecutors and courts rather than offering discretionary kindness.

Question 7

What is the difference between a caution, a fixed penalty notice and a conviction?

Accepted Answer

They are three different things with very different consequences — and the most important distinction is whether you have admitted an offence. Conviction. A finding of guilt by a court, after a trial

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