Conference

When challenged by the police it is | advisable to give your NAME and ADDRESS if asked: the citizen can ask why the policeman wants to know, but ultimately he should give the information, otherwise he might face several charges. Often police are put in their place easily enough, but the important thing to remember is that today, police evidence, however patently false, is damning. It is left, therefore, to the individual to assess in the circumstances the extent of his opposition to the police. Similarily with interrogation by police as to where a person is coming from: police can arrest with impunity and without a warrant if they claim to have a reasonable suspicion that an offence has been committed e.g. lawyers consider if a person is moving about at night under 'suspicious' circumstances that this may give grounds for reasonable suspicion.

Arrests can be made any day or at any time. With or without a warrant, police can break down a door to @fect arrest, although they are supposed to demand entrance first. Arrest is a physical interference with a person's liberty. Words are not sufficient while, on the other hand, restraint can occur without the police actually touching: to go voluntarily is not arrest.

Arrest under a DEFECTIVE WAR~ RANT is ineffectual (e.g. some details of the charges must be stated in the warrant) but a constable executing the warraut remains immune from a civil action, although the vigorously, and when charged later with assault the R.M. had to throw the charges out of court. Kevin is now suing the police for assualt and false imprisonment.

A policeman must let a person know the substance of the warrant.

handcuffs A person cannot be HANDCUFFED except when he has attempted to escape or it is reasonable of police to expect he will do so. It is considered that a person handcuffed unnecessarily has a right of action against the police.

In the case where a person is arrested without a warrant and held in custody he must be released within 24 hours, and if not, the police must bring him before a court 'as soon as practicable, but not more than 48 hours after arrest'. Lawyers consider it reasonable for police to detain a person arrested without warrant at night, until the next day, when he is put before a court. It is not considered reasonable, however, to so detain for a full 48 hours except where a Sunday intervenes.

Police can SEARCH a person on his arrest in custody and sieze any property capable of forming material evidence in a criminal charge, but not any other property.

Police require an R. M.'s order to fingerprint a person taken into custody and charged with an offence, but if the accused is acquitted or the charge dismissed they are supposed to destroy the fingerprints and copies. Whether they do or not, especially in political cases, is The P.D. held a preliminary conference the week-end before last to | discuss the wave of police repress- { ion being directed against the left in general, and the P.D. in particular. Methods of countering this repression were put forward, as well as means of making more { difficult the serving of the police i state's summonses etc. A useful paper on citizen's legal rights with regard to all aspects of pig work was read. An abridged version of this article is reprinted ia this week's Free Citizen.

This Sunday, October 11th, he P.D. is holding a similar conference to which other socialist organisations have been invited. From this we hope a common policy will emerge, as well as an agreed course of joint action to harrass the pig harrassers. A full report will be contained in next week's Free Citizen.

I would like to become a member of the People's Democracy. I enclose a fee of 10 shillings.

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FREE CITIZEN 9th October 1970