Claims against the police

Chief Constable of Essex v Carter [2024] EWHC 126 (KB)

Since the introduction of new police powers by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1983 (PACE) and its accompanying Codes of Practice which are updated regularly, claims for personal injury for alleged abuse of those powers have occasionally reached the courts. PACE set out to strike and maintain an appropriate balance between the powers of the police and the rights and freedoms of the public. The PACE codes of practice cover stop and search, arrest, detention, investigation, identification and the interviewing of detainees. An appeal by the police from a decision of the High Court in a 2022 case reported recently gives a flavour of the kind of issues raised by claimants when they challenge the way police officers have treated them. The case concerned events at Southend Police Station in July 2015 and judgment of the Court of Appeal was not issued until February 2024.