The roles and powers of the police, including stop and search, arrest, detention and charging, the role of the Crown Prosecution Service, and the rights citizens have when dealing with the police.

What this dot point is asking

AQA wants you to know the roles and powers of the police and the rights citizens have when dealing with them. This Rights and responsibilities topic (Paper 1 Section B) is tested through "Explain" questions on police powers such as stop and search, arrest, detention and charging, and through questions on the rights a citizen has if they are stopped or arrested. The examiner rewards accurate knowledge of what each power allows the police to do, paired with an understanding that those powers are limited by law and balanced by clear rights for the citizen. The key idea is balance: the police need powers to keep order and bring offenders to justice, but a free society limits those powers so they cannot be used unfairly.

The role of the police

The police are the part of the justice system citizens are most likely to meet. They patrol communities, respond to incidents, investigate crimes by gathering evidence and questioning witnesses, and pass cases to the courts. Because they have powers the ordinary citizen does not, such as the power to detain a person, their work is governed by law and codes of practice so it cannot be used arbitrarily. The principle of the rule of law means the police must act lawfully, treat people equally and respect citizens' rights, and they can be held to account if they overstep. This is why exam answers should never describe the police as able to do whatever they like: every power has limits.

Stop and search, arrest and detention

These powers escalate in seriousness, and each has a legal threshold. Stop and search needs reasonable grounds, not a hunch or prejudice, which is why concerns about searches falling unevenly on some communities are a live citizenship debate. Arrest requires reasonable suspicion that the person has committed an offence. Detention is time-limited: a suspect can normally be held for up to 24 hours before they must be charged or released, with extensions only in serious cases and with proper authorisation. Naming the powers in order and knowing the 24-hour limit is exactly the kind of precise institutional knowledge AQA rewards, because it shows the powers are bounded rather than open-ended.

Charging and the Crown Prosecution Service

The police gather evidence, but the decision to take most serious cases to court is taken with the CPS, which applies two tests: is there a realistic prospect of conviction on the evidence, and is a prosecution in the public interest? Separating investigation (the police) from the decision to prosecute (the CPS) is an important check, because it means one body does not both investigate and decide guilt should be tested in court. If the case proceeds, the person becomes a defendant and the courts, not the police, decide guilt. A common exam point is that the police do not decide whether someone is guilty: their job is to investigate and charge, while the courts and juries decide the verdict.

Citizens' rights when dealing with the police

When a citizen is stopped, arrested or detained, the law gives them clear rights that limit police power. If stopped and searched, a person is entitled to know the officer's name, station and the reason for the search. If arrested, they have the right to be told why, the right to free legal advice from a solicitor, the right to have someone informed of their arrest, the right to see the codes of practice the police must follow, and the right to medical help and an interpreter if needed. These rights matter because they protect the citizen against unlawful or unfair treatment and uphold the presumption of innocence: a person is innocent until proven guilty, and detention is to investigate, not to punish. Knowing both the powers and the matching rights shows the examiner you understand the police as part of a system designed to balance order with liberty.