Entry and search without warrant - S17 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
Section 17 provides a wide-ranging power to enter and search premises without a warrant in order to arrest persons or to save life, limb or property. So far as the entry and search for persons is concerned, reasonable grounds for believing that the person is on the premises must exist and there is a limitation on search in respect of separate dwellings and, like all search powers, it is a search only to the extent reasonably required for the purpose for which the power was exercised.
Sep 7, 2006
By Denis Clark
Picture: Merseyside Police
Section 17 provides a wide-ranging power to enter and search premises without a warrant in order to arrest persons or to save life, limb or property. So far as the entry and search for persons is concerned, reasonable grounds for believing that the person is on the premises must exist and there is a limitation on search in respect of separate dwellings and, like all search powers, it is a search only to the extent reasonably required for the purpose for which the power was exercised.
The section provides the following powers:
(A) Entry in order to execute a warrant of arrest or commitment (S17(1)(a)(i) and (ii)).
There are a large number of statutes authorising the issue of arrest warrants. However, the wide powers of arrest without warrant under S24 and contained in numerous statutes mean that arrest warrants are comparatively rare. When they are issued they are usually issued under S125 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980. Section 17(1)(a) of the 1984 Act makes it clear that a constable may enter and search premises in order to execute such warrants and, if necessary, he can use reasonable force (S117). In Jones v Kelsey (1986) it was held that a warrant issued under S16(1) of the Criminal Courts Act 1973 to arrest for breach of a community order, was a warrant to arrest a person in connection with an offence within S125(4) of the MCA 1980. It follows that such a warrant is within S17(1)(a) and the power to enter premises in order to execute it is available. In R v Peaco*ck (1988) it was held that a means inquiry warrant issued under S83(1)(b) of the MCA 1980 for non-payment of a fine was not issued in connection with an offence, therefore the S17 power is not available in respect of such warrants. Doubt existed under the earlier law as to whether the police could enter premises in the reasonable belief, as opposed to knowledge, that the person named in the warrant was there. A New Zealand case (Mathews v Dwan (1949)) had concluded that there was no such power. Section 17(2)(a) resolves the doubt in the constables favour: he can enter if he has reasonable grounds for believing that the person is on the premises. To resolve further doubts, warrants of commitment under S76 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 are included in S17(1)(a)(ii). These warrants are issued against those who default in paying a magistrates court order, such as a fine following conviction or an order for maintenance.
(B) Entry in order to make an arrest without warrant for an indictable offence* (S17(1)(b)).
At common law there is no general power for the police to enter premises without a warrant to make an arrest. Moreover, the courts will not construe a statutory power of arrest without a warrant as including a power of entry (Morris v Beardmore (1980), Finnigan v Sandiford (1981)). Parliament must confer the power expressly. The common law did, however, permit entry in order to arrest a felon, and S2(6) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 similarly allowed it for the more serious offences. Section 17(1)(b) preserves and extends this power for it applies to indictable offences, and S24 extends that concept to include common law offences and a number of statutory offences. If therefore an offence within this concept has been committed or is reasonably suspected to have been committed, a constable who knows, or has reasonable grounds for believing (Section 17(2)(a), that a person known to have committed or reasonably suspected of having committed such an offence is to be found on premises, may enter, by force if necessary (S117), to arrest that person. It is essential that a constable exercising this power:
(a) has reasonable grounds for suspecting that an indictable offence has been committed; and
(b) has reasonable grounds for believing that the person who has committed that offence is on the premises to be entered (see Kynaston v DPP (1987), Chapman v DPP (1988) and Riley v DPP (1989)).
In order to determine whether the police have lawfully entered under S17(1)(b) the cou
