Clause 101 - Powers of arrest
Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill
2:45 pm
Ms Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Crime Reduction, Policing & Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)
Clearly, the purpose of the amendments that we are making is to introduce a framework in which any offence is arrestable, from the most to the least serious. The clause sets out qualifying factors to decide whether or not arrest is necessary in those circumstances. The phrase
''to allow the prompt and effective investigation of the offence''
would apply to the whole range of offences, and the police officer would need to think about that.