How does police bail work?
Discussion
I have another question about the judicial process. Obviously there are two types of bail, court bail and police bail. court bail I can understand, you may be let out on bail until your hearing with certain conditions but those conditions are set by the judge who will have the final say on what happens to you if you are ultimately found guilty and the bail conditions will almost certainly relate to the case, like don't go near the person you have allegedly tried to murder, that sort of thing.
But how does police bail work, say you get arrested on what could be a trumped up charge, maybe something malicious or whatever, the police don't charge you there and then as they don't currently have any evidence, yet they get to impose conditions on you of their choosing without it going anywhere near a judge or any sort of legally qualified person.
To keep it light hearted, supposing you finish work at 9PM and get to the local Tesco and are able to buy all the reduced items, but your copper neighbour doesn't finish work until 9.30 and by the time he gets to Tesco everything is gone, what's to stop the coppers arresting you for walking on the cracks on the pavement and then bailing you whilst they "investigate" but the condition of the bail is to stay away from Tesco.
I know that's a daft scenario but it seems some police forces are arresting people that film certain situations in town centres (usually the situation occurs in the first place due to a lack of policing) and then plaster it all over social media, the bail conditions for all of them seem to centre around being banned from the area they are filming in.
How do the police get to impose restrictions on you before you are even charged with anything? I don't understand and what happens if you ignore them, is it then straight to prison without trial? Seems bizarre, what's stopping the police from simply saying you cant leave your house at any time whatsoever and then when you do because you are starving they then arrest you for breaking the bail condition.
But how does police bail work, say you get arrested on what could be a trumped up charge, maybe something malicious or whatever, the police don't charge you there and then as they don't currently have any evidence, yet they get to impose conditions on you of their choosing without it going anywhere near a judge or any sort of legally qualified person.
To keep it light hearted, supposing you finish work at 9PM and get to the local Tesco and are able to buy all the reduced items, but your copper neighbour doesn't finish work until 9.30 and by the time he gets to Tesco everything is gone, what's to stop the coppers arresting you for walking on the cracks on the pavement and then bailing you whilst they "investigate" but the condition of the bail is to stay away from Tesco.
I know that's a daft scenario but it seems some police forces are arresting people that film certain situations in town centres (usually the situation occurs in the first place due to a lack of policing) and then plaster it all over social media, the bail conditions for all of them seem to centre around being banned from the area they are filming in.
How do the police get to impose restrictions on you before you are even charged with anything? I don't understand and what happens if you ignore them, is it then straight to prison without trial? Seems bizarre, what's stopping the police from simply saying you cant leave your house at any time whatsoever and then when you do because you are starving they then arrest you for breaking the bail condition.
Yep, Police can place bail conditions on you before any charges, eg domestic abuse allegations, stay away from complainant, not to visit their address etc, I'm sure most people arrested and under investigation for alleged offences are happy that Police are aloowed to grant conditions as the alternative options include remaining in custody, and a Custody Sergeant is certainly a legally qualified person so very unlikely that the scenarios you give would occur, don't worry you live in the UK not some oppresive foreign Police state. :-)
I have a mate who has lived with me for the last 15 months, his bail conditions ran for 12, basically couldn t go home (unless agreed by the police to access belongings and under strict conditions) or contact his wife & kids.
He was left homeless, had 30 mins to pack a bag no formal help or support. Fortunately I was in a position to help.
Bail conditions were kept to by the letter, this was essential for his defence. When he was faced with a potential breach he declared it straight away (likely set up by his soon to be Ex).
In this case there was nothing light hearted. But all sorted now.
He was left homeless, had 30 mins to pack a bag no formal help or support. Fortunately I was in a position to help.
Bail conditions were kept to by the letter, this was essential for his defence. When he was faced with a potential breach he declared it straight away (likely set up by his soon to be Ex).
In this case there was nothing light hearted. But all sorted now.
Edited by r159 on Monday 9th November 20:12
r159 said:
I have a mate who has lived with me for the last 15 months, his bail conditions ran for 12, basically couldn t go home (unless agreed by the police to access belongings and under strict conditions) or contact his wife & kids.
He was left homeless, had 30 mins to pack a bag no formal help or support. Fortunately I was in a position to help.
Bail conditions were kept to by the letter, this was essential for his defence. When he was faced with a potential breach he declared it straight away (likely set up by his soon to be Ex).
In this case there was nothing light hearted. But all sorted now.
Was that after charges though, I also had a mate that was arrested for something and then released pending further evidence, his bail was unconditional but he had to keep going back to the police station every so often until it was eventually "NFA'd". From what I understand is they have 24 hrs to either charge or release you so if they only hold you for say 12 hrs at the station they have a further 12 hrs to have you keep coming back to the station only to be told come back in another month, the clock only ticks from when you are on the premises I believe. This could go on for months and months if they want to keep the bail conditions going until they eventually get bored of it.He was left homeless, had 30 mins to pack a bag no formal help or support. Fortunately I was in a position to help.
Bail conditions were kept to by the letter, this was essential for his defence. When he was faced with a potential breach he declared it straight away (likely set up by his soon to be Ex).
In this case there was nothing light hearted. But all sorted now.
Edited by r159 on Monday 9th November 20:12
Kevin-2g5x2 said:
Yep, Police can place bail conditions on you before any charges, eg domestic abuse allegations, stay away from complainant, not to visit their address etc, I'm sure most people arrested and under investigation for alleged offences are happy that Police are aloowed to grant conditions as the alternative options include remaining in custody, and a Custody Sergeant is certainly a legally qualified person so very unlikely that the scenarios you give would occur, don't worry you live in the UK not some oppresive foreign Police state. :-)
They can only keep you in custody for 24 hrs though pre charges, unless its something very serious and they get extra time, letting someone out on bail could be restrictive to the defendant for months and months with the case going nowhere whereas if they kept you in custody they would either have to put up or shut up.Surely we want the police to be able to impose bail conditions?
If someone is arrested for shoplifting from the same store they have shoplifted from previously, and the likelihood is they will shoplift from there again yet the police need just a bit more evidence to charge (CCTV, witness statement etc), then we don't really want the police simply releasing them without any conditions.
Thankfully the custody Sgt can impose conditions for them not to go in that store, or in that area. Clearly they can choose to break those conditions, but that can then lead to being arrested again and maybe remanded in custody until their court date.
If someone is arrested for shoplifting from the same store they have shoplifted from previously, and the likelihood is they will shoplift from there again yet the police need just a bit more evidence to charge (CCTV, witness statement etc), then we don't really want the police simply releasing them without any conditions.
Thankfully the custody Sgt can impose conditions for them not to go in that store, or in that area. Clearly they can choose to break those conditions, but that can then lead to being arrested again and maybe remanded in custody until their court date.
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