What grounds you can be arrested for
How will the arrest be made
After you are arrested what can happen
After being arrested can you be charged with an offense
How you can contact your family and lawyer after being arrested
What grounds you can be arrested for:
There are some offences where the police can arrest you for if they suspect you of committing it. They can arrest you if they wish to take you into custody for investigations and/or to charge you in court. A couple of examples of the crimes are criminal breach of trust, rape, cheating, causing serious hurt, theft, rioting, outraging of modesty and trafficking, possessing or consumption of drugs.
How will the arrest be made:
An arrest has to be done by first informing you that you are being arrested. And if they expect you to attempt to escape, they would touch or hold you. Usually you will be handcuffed. Reasonable force can be used to arrest you unless you yield to custody readily. You are however allowed to ask the police officers for their official identification and also the reason for your arrest.
After you are arrested what can happen:
After being arrested, you will be search and brought to the police station for questioning. You can be detained in a lock-up. You will be required to surrender your belongings and a list of the items will be created. You will be asked to confirm the list of belongs and a copy of the list will be give to you.
You can be detained for a maximum of 48 hours. During this period, you can be brought out for searches. If the police want to detain you for more than 48 hours, they will have to bring you to court. In court, the judge will decide if you can be detain for more than 48 hours based on the reasons given by the police on why they want to detain you further.
However if they do not wish to detain you more than 48 hours, they can release you with a personal promise by you that you will come back or go to court when required. They can also put you on bail to ensure to do so.
After being arrested can you be charged with an offence:
Whether if its before, during or after an investigation, the police can arrest you. Once you are arrested, you will be required to give a statement. If the police decide to charge you, you will be asked to sign a cautioned statement to tell you to state your defence. Also mention your defence in the statement or else it will not be believed if you mention it later during trial.
If you are formally charged, you will be brought to court. Your fingerprints will be taken and you will also be photographed at the criminal record office in CID. Hence you will have a record in CID.
If you are acquitted of the offence or the charges have been dropped, you can always request for your fingerprint and negative from CID by writing in.
How you can contact your family and lawyer after being arrested:
After being arrested, you can request for call your family or your lawyer to inform them of your arrest. You can also request for visits by them, however if it can interfere with the investigation, the request can be rejected. You are allowed by law to choose you own lawyer.
