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  • Can the Police do this?

    Maybe. PACE 1984 S19 suggests that if the constable thinks that there has been an offence, and that your phone is evidence relating to that offence, and that he has to seize it there and then to prevent its being concealed or destroyed, he can nick your phone. This is all based on a "reasonable grounds" test, i.e. the plod will make something up at a later date to justify their action if it's obvious that the constable has behaved unreasonably at the time.

  • That only applies to seizures from premises, not from the person. To seize a mobile phone from someone's person the policeperson would have to have a right of search, and as far as I'm aware the police don't have a power to search someone merely because they might be a witness or is in possession of something which might be evidence of an offence.

    Not really my area of the law though, so I may be wrong about the extent of search powers.

  • To seize a mobile phone from someone's person the policeperson would have to have a right of search

    In practice, if the phone is in your hand, the plod doesn't have to search you, he just has to ask you nicely to move away from the area for you own safety in the usual way, i.e. push you hard enough to make you drop your phone. Once it's on the floor (and quite likely you are too), the phone is just an abandoned piece of property in the street which he can pick up for safe keeping 😐

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