You are reading a single comment by @polybikeuser and its replies. Click here to read the full conversation.
  • MrSmith just ask them either of these questions

    "how long are you going to detain me?"
    "am i free to go?"

    unless they are going to arrest you there's no point standing there arguing the toss.

    I know you said the PCSO had a proper copper with him but it's also worth remembering PCSOs have no power of arrest, this being said, I don't know exactly how this works, but they can legitimately hold/detain you for up to 20 minutes while they wait for a proper copper to come and arrest you. An interesting question, which I've yet to find even a police man who answer is, if there's more than one of them, can they hold you sequentially, i.e one holds you for 20 minutes then the other holds you for another 20 minutes or does it have to be concurrently, i.e. no matter how many of them there are, they can only hold/detain you for 20 minutes.

    If it's sequentially, what amount of time has to elapse before they can hold/detain you again, or can one hold/detain you for 20 minutes, then the other for another 20 minutes, the the first for another 20 minutes and so on. I know this all sounds very silly, but it seem's a very poorly devised piece of law, also irritating as some police men can be, there are times when you need them when it can be very handy to have them around and I'd far rather have a proper full blown police man than a whole gaggle of half-arsed, wannabe but am not quite a proper police man PCSO.

    One last thought if approached by a difficult PCSO, as they don't have power of arrest, challenge him (or her) to arrest you, hope they do and if they do sue for wrongful/unlawful arrest and lots and lots of compensation!!! Well, maybe.

About