Correct on the date of publication - 10 March 2025
Question:
Does an arrested person have to be taken to the 'nearest police station'?
Answer:
Section 30 of PACE Act 1984 provides that a person who is arrested (other than at a police station) should be taken to a police station 'as soon as is practicable', and lays down a procedure to be followed in the event of a delay in taking the prisoner to a police station for any reason.
It provides that where a person is, at any place other than a police station -
(a) arrested by a constable for an offence; or
(b) taken into custody by a constable after being arrested for an offence by a person other than a constable,
then under section 30(1A) the person must be taken by a constable to a police station 'as soon as practicable' after the arrest and that police station should normally be a designated police station. However, the constable may take the arrested person to any police station unless it appears to the constable that it may be necessary to keep the arrested person in police detention for more than six hours.
Further to that, any constable may take an arrested person to any police station if -
(a) either of the following conditions is satisfied -
(i) the constable has arrested him without the assistance of any other constable and no other constable is available to assist him;
(ii) the constable has taken him into custody from a person other than a constable without the assistance of any other constable and no other constable is available to assist him;
AND
(b) it appears to the constable that he will be unable to take the arrested person to a designated police station without the arrested person injuring himself, the constable or some other person.
Note: that the words in the section make no mention of having to take a suspect to 'the nearest police station'.
The term, 'as soon as practicable' would indicate that the arrested person should be taken to a police station without undue delay.
If a person is arrested, in for example, somewhere near a force boundary and the nearest designated police station is in that other force area, is it necessary to take him to that police station? There is no legal duty to take the suspect to such a station, as long as the arresting officer is acting in good faith taking the suspect to a station in his own area without any undue delay.
View the full Legal Q&A document here, with links to related and similar legal questions.
