Correct on the date of publication - 22 September 2025
Question:
Arrested persons must be taken to a police station "as soon as practicable" (section 30(1A) of PACE). There is no mention of having to take them to "the nearest police station". Must this be the nearest police station? If an officer working near a force boundary arrests a person in an adjacent police area, must the detained person be taken to a police station in the area where he was arrested?
Answer:
It is a myth that 'a person must be taken to the nearest police station as soon as practicable after arrest' - section 30(1A) of PACE actually states, "that a person must be taken by a constable to a police station as soon as practicable after the arrest"; there is no mention of the word nearest. The phrase "as soon as practicable" should not be construed as influencing the police station to which the prisoner should be taken, but as meaning that he should be taken to a police station without undue delay. The word 'practicable' means 'put into practice with the available means'. In prescribing that an arrested person must be taken to a police station as soon as practicable, section 30(1A) of PACE does not demand that it should be to the nearest police station.
In the circumstances outlined in the question, when arrests are in the neighbouring force area, or any other force area for that matter, there is no legal duty to take the prisoners to a police station in the area in which they were arrested. Be aware of the limits on detention where an individual is arrested in another police area.
Where an arrest is made by a constable of the English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Ireland police forces in any other jurisdiction of the UK countries (cross-border arrest), section 137 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 specifies the powers and obligations in connection with such arrests.
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