UPDATED AND

REPRINTED
5 TH EDITION

NO FREE

COM M E NT

the
defendant’s
guide to
arrest
NO COMMENT

This is the fifth edition of No Comment. It has been

updated and reprinted by the Legal Defence &
Monitoring Group (LDMG) in October 2014.

Once again it was funded by the proceeds of a

damages award from the Gloucestershire and
Metropolitan Police, who were sued for false arrest and
imprisonment and breach of human rights. We are sure
that they will be pleased to know that their funds are
being invested in a public information campaign as vital
and deserving as this.

If you obtain damages from the police please consider

sending us some of the money so we can do another
reprint.

Further copies can be obtained free by sending a 2nd

class stamped SAE to
No Comment c/o BM Haven, London WC1N 3XX
or you can download copies from
www.ldmg.org.uk
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

Getting
arrested is
no joke
It’s a serious business.
All convictions add up: eg. if you’re done
three times for shoplifting, you stand
a good chance of getting sent down.

If there’s a chance of you getting nicked,

get your act together: know what to do
in case you’re arrested.

Unless you enjoy cells, courtrooms, prisons,

you owe it to yourself to wise up

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WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN ARRESTED

You will be asked to give the police your name and

address and your date of birth - you don’t have to
give any details, but it may delay your release. If
you have any identity documents on you (driving
licence, passport, bank card, Oyster card etc.)
then the police will know who you are.They also
have the right to take your fingerprints, photo and
non-intimate body samples (a saliva swab, to
record your DNA). These will be kept on file, even
if you are not charged, but if you later sue the
police you should try to get them
destroyed.

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994,

removed the traditional ‘Right to Silence’.
However, all this means is that the police/
prosecution can point to your refusal to speak to
them, when the case comes to court, and the court
may take this as evidence of your guilt. The police
cannot force you to speak or make a statement,
whatever they may say to you in the station.
Refusing to speak cannot be used to
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

convict you by itself. We reckon the best policy if

you want to get off is to remain silent. The best
place to work out a good defence is afterwards,
with your solicitor or witnesses, not under
pressure in the hands of the cops. If your refusal to
speak comes up in court, we think the best defence
is to refuse to speak until your solicitor gets there
then get them to agree to your
position. You can then say you acted on legal
advice.

If you are arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000,

the police can keep you in custody for longer. They
have already used this against protestors and
others to intimidate them. Remember being
arrested is not the same as being charged. There
may be circumstances in which giving a written
statement through a solicitor you trust might be in
your best interest, but do not answer questions.
Keeping silent is still the best thing to do in
police custody.

! REMEMBER - ALL CHARGES ADD UP

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POLICE BAIL
It is common for the police to release people on bail,
as the police are not allowed to charge people with
anything except minor offences without the agreement
of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Often they
will attach condiions to the bail, such as not going
into certain areas or not attending protests.

Whilst you are on police bail they try to find evidence

against you and send a file to the CPS, who then decide
what the appropriate charge is.

Aside from laziness, incompetence and inefficiency both

cops and CPS have positive reasons to slow the process
down. The cops like keeping people on bail because it’s
a punishment in itself, especially if there are conditions
attached, while the CPS get paid however long it takes.
This leads to people being on bail for months or even
years with disruption to their lives and ongoing
psychological pressures.

BREACHING BAIL CONDITIONS IS NOT A CRIMINAL

OFFENCE!
Breaking bail conditions is not the same as failing to
surrender to bail (turning up on the date given on your
bail sheet whether to a court or to return to a police
station). Failure to surrender is a crime (Section 6 Bail
Act 1976). Although it should be said, the courts take
failure to surrender to the cops far less seriously than
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

skipping court and CPS guidelines state that failure to

answer police bail should not be prosecuted at all where
the substantive case is dropped.

Breaking conditions imposed when you are given bail is

not a crime. If you break bail conditions you can be
arrested (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 section
46A (1A)). BUT and here’s the good bit, they can only
release you on bail again with the same conditions or
charge you, and then either bail you or take you to Court
the next day. Now some people may be afraid that the
Court will remand them. BUT the Courts can only remand
people who’ve been charged with an offence. And that
is what the cops don’t want to do because if you’re
charged you have to be told what you’re suspected of
doing and what the evidence is against you. This will help
your defence by enabling you to gather information and
witnesses to the incident and demand disclosure of the
police’s own misconduct. We suspect that the cops are
not planning to arrest anyone for breaching bail just
hoping to put people off demonstrating. In any case it’s
almost unheard of for people to be remanded just for
breaking police bail conditions.

CAUTIONS
The police may offer you a caution saying that this is
instead of charging you. They will reassure you that this
is not a criminal offence. Whilst this is technically true

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a caution is an admission which will remain on your

record and to all intents and purposes the accepting of
a caution gives rise to a criminal record. This may make
it hard to get a job, visa etc. in the future. The cops
offer cautions to bolster their figures, when they don't
have enough evidence to charge anyone. If you have
already accepted a caution then you should take legal
advice as quickly as possible.

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES (FACEBOOK ETC.)

If you are arrested the police will trawl the net and use
information they find on social networking sites etc. So
if you boast about things or post pictures this is doing
the cops job for them. They will also be able to see who
your online friends are.

MOBILE PHONES
If you are arrested the police will access the data on your
mobile phone, including deleted texts and photos. They
will have access to your contact list and may take an
interest in your friends.

Q What happens when I get arrested?

When you are arrested, you will usually be handcuffed,
put in a van and taken to a police station. You will be
asked your name, address and date of birth. You should
be told the reason for your arrest - remember what is
said, it may be useful later. Your personal belongings will
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

be taken from you. These are listed on the custody

record and usually you will be asked to sign to say that
the list is correct. You do not have to sign, but if you do
you should sign immediately below the last line, so that
the cops can’t add something incriminating to the list.
You should also refuse to sign for something which isn’t
yours, or which could be incriminating. You will also be
asked if you want a copy of PACE (the Police and Criminal
Evidence Act codes of practice) and to sign to say you
have refused. We suggest you take a copy – its the only
thing you’ll get to read and you might as well gen up on
the rules the cops are supposed to follow.

Your fingerprints, photo and saliva swab will be taken,

then you will be placed in a cell until the police are
ready to deal with you.
DO NOT PANIC!

Q What if I am under 18?

There has to be an ‘appropriate adult’ present for the
interview. The cops will always want this to be your mum
or dad, but you might want to give the name of an older
brother or sister or other relative or adult friend (though
the cops may not accept a friend). If you don’t have
anyone, the local Youth Offending Team will send an
appropriate adult, normally a trained volunteer. This
may lead to social services becoming involved and could
create more problems for you and your parents.
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Q When can I contact a solicitor?

You should be able to ring a solicitor as soon as you’re
arrested. Once at the police station it is one of the first
things you should do, for two reasons:

1. To have someone know where you are.

2. To show the cops you are not going to be a soft target
- they may back off a bit.

It is advisable to avoid using the duty solicitor as they

may be crap or hand in glove with the cops. It’s worth
finding the number of a good solicitor in your area and
memorising it. The police are wary of decent solicitors.
Any good solicitor will provide free advice at the police
station. Also, avoid telling your solicitor much about
what happened. This can be sorted out later. For the
time being, tell them you are refusing to speak. Your
solicitor can come into the police station while the
police interview you: you should refuse to be interviewed
unless your solicitor is present.

Q What is an interview?
An interview is the police questioning you about the of-
fences they want to charge you with. The interview will
take place in an interview room in the police station and
should be taped.
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

AN INTERVIEW IS ONLY OF BENEFIT TO THE POLICE.

Remember they want to prosecute you for whatever
charge they can stick on you.

AN INTERVIEW IS A NO WIN SITUATION. For your

benefit, the only thing to be said in an interview is
“NO COMMENT”.

REMEMBER: They can’t legally force you to speak.

Beware of attempts to interview you in the cop van or
cell etc. as all interviews are nowadays recorded. The
cops may try to pretend you confessed before the taped
interview. Again say “NO COMMENT”.

Q Will the police interview me straight away?

Not necessarily. They may let you out without charging
you on police bail with a date to return to the police
station. In the meantime they will check CCTV and try to
get evidence. When you return they may interview you.

Q Why do the police want me to answer

questions?
If the police think they have enough evidence against you
they will not need to interview you. For example, in
most public order arrests they rely on witness
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statements from 1 or 2 cops or bystanders, you won’t

even be interviewed. Also if they have arrested you and
other people, they will try to get you to implicate the
others. The police want to convict as many people as
possible because:

1. It makes it look like they’re doing a good job at solving

crime. The clear-up rate is very important to the cops;
they have to be seen to be doing their job. The more
crimes they get convictions for, the better it looks for
them.
2. Police officers want promotion, to climb up the ladder
of hierarchy. Coppers get promotion through the number
of crimes they ‘solve’. No copper wants to be a bobby all
their life.

A ‘solved crime’ is a conviction against somebody. You

only have to look at such cases as the Birmingham 6 to
understand how far the police will go to get a conviction.
Fitting people up to boost the ‘clear-up rate’, and at the
same time removing people cops don’t like, is wide
spread in all police forces.

Q So if the police want to interview me, it shows

I could be in a good position?
Yes - they may not have enough evidence, and hope
you’ll implicate yourself or other people.
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

Q And the way to stay in that position is to refuse

to be drawn into a conversation and answer
“NO COMMENT” to any questions?
Exactly.

Q But what if the evidence looks like they have

got something on me? Wouldn’t it be best to explain
away the circumstances I was arrested in, so they’ll
let me go?
The only evidence that matters is the evidence
presented in court to the Magistrate or jury. The only
place to explain everything is in court; if they’ve decided
to keep you in, no amount of explaining will get you out.
If the police have enough evidence, anything you say can
only add to this evidence against you.

When the cops interview someone, they do all they can

to confuse and intimidate you. The questions may not be
related to the crime. Their aim is to soften you up, get
you chatting. Don’t answer a few small talk
questions and then clam up when they ask you a
question about the crime. It looks worse in court.

To prosecute you, the police must present their

evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service. A copy of

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the evidence is sent to your solicitor. The evidence

usually rests on very small points: this is why it’s
important not to give anything away in custody. They
may say your refusal to speak will be used against you in
court, but the best place to work out what you want to
say is later with your solicitor. It they don’t have enough
evidence the case will be thrown out or never even get
to court. This is why they want you to speak.

They need all the evidence they can get. One word could
cause you a lot of trouble.

Q So I’ve got to keep my mouth shut. What tricks

can I expect the police to pull in order to make me
talk?
The police try to get people to talk in many devious
ways. The following shows some pretty common
examples, but remember they may try some other line
on you. These are the things that often catch people out.
DON’T GET CAUGHT OUT.

1.
“ Come on now, we know it’s you, your mate’s in the
next cell and he’s told us the whole story.
”
If they’ve got the story, why do they need your
confession? Playing co-accused off against each other is
a common trick, as you’ve no way of checking what other
people are saying. If you are up to something dodgy with
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

other people, work out a story and stick to it. Don’t

believe it if they say your co-accused has confessed.

“
2. We know it’s not you, but we know you know who’s
done it. Come on Jane, don’t be silly, tell us who did

”
it
The cops will use your first name to try and seem as
though they’re your friends. If you are young they will
act in a fatherly/motherly way, etc.

“
3. As soon as we find out what happened you can go
Fat chance! ”
4.
“ Look you little bastard, don’t fuck us about.
We’ve dealt with some characters; a little runt like you
is nothing to us. We know you did it you little shit and

”
you’re going to tell us.
They’re trying to get at you.

5.
“ What’s a nice kid like you doing messed up in a

”
thing like this?
They’re still trying to get at you.

6.
“ ”
We’ll keep you in ‘til you tell us
They have to put you before the magistrate or release
you within 36 hours (or 14 days if arrested under the
Terrorism Act). Only a magistrate can order you to be
held without charge for any longer.

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7.
“ There is no right to silence anymore. If you don’t
answer questions the judge will know you’re guilty.
”
Refusing to speak cannot be used to convict you by itself.
If they had enough evidence they wouldn’t be
interviewing you.

8.
“ You’ll be charged with something far more serious
if you don’t start answering our questions, sonny. You’re
for the high jump. You’re not going to see the light of
day for a long time. Start answering our questions ‘cos
we’re getting sick of you.
”
Mental intimidation. They’re unlikely to charge you with
a serious charge that won’t stick in court. Don’t panic.

9.
“ You’ve been nicked under the Terrorism Act, so
you’ve got no rights.
”
More mental intimidation and all the more reason to say
“NO COMMENT”.

10.
“ ”
My niece is a bit of a rebel.
Yeah right.

11.
“ If someone’s granny gets mugged tonight it’ll be
your fault. Stop wasting our time by not talking.
”
They’re trying to make you feel guilty. Don’t fall for it,
you didn’t ask to be arrested.
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

12. PC Nice:
“ Hiya, what’s it all about then? Sergeant
Smith says you’re in a bit of trouble. He’s a bit wound
up with you. You tell me what happened and Smith
won’t bother you. He’s not the best of our
officers, he loses his rag every now and again. So what
happened?
”
PC Nice is as devious as PC Nasty is. He or she will offer
you a cuppa, or a blanket. It’s the softly-softly approach.
It’s bollocks. “NO COMMENT”.

13.
“ We’ve been here for half an hour now and you’ve
not said a fucking word.... Look you little cunt some of
the CID boys will be down in a minute. They’ll have you
talking in no time. Talk now or I’ll bring them down.
Keep at it, they’re getting desperate. They’re about to”
give up. You’ve a lot to lose by speaking.

14.
“ Your girlfriend’s outside. Do you want us to arrest
her? We’ll soon have her gear off for a strip search. I bet
she’ll tell us. You’re making all this happen by being
such a prick. Now talk
”
They pick on your weak spots, family, friends etc. Cops
do sometimes victimise prisoners’ families, but mostly
they are bluffing.

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NO COMMENT

15.
“ You’re a fuckin’ loony, you! Who’d want you for
a mother, you daft bitch? Start talking or your kids are
going into care.
”
Give your solicitor details of a friend or relative who can
look after your kids. The cops don’t have the power to
take them into care.

16.
“ Look, we’ve tried to contact your solicitor, but
we can’t get hold of them. It’s going to drag on for ages
this way. Why don’t we get this over with so you can go
home.
”
Never accept an interview without your solicitor present,
a bit more time now may save years later!

17.
“ You’re obviously no dummy. I’ll tell you what
we’ll do a deal. You admit to one of the charges, and
we’ll drop the other two. We’ll recommend to the judge
that you get a non-custodial sentence, because you’ve
co-operated. How does that sound?
”
They’re trying to get you to do a deal. There are no deals
to be made with the police. Much as they’d like to, the
police don’t control the sentence you get.

18.
“ We’ve been round to the address you gave us and
the people there say they don’t know you. We’ve
checked on the JobCentre Plus computer and there’s no
sign of you. Now come on, tell us who you are. Tell us
who you are or you’ve had it.
”
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

If you’re planning to give an address make sure everyone

there knows the name you are using and that they are
reliable. The cops usually check that you live somewhere
by going round to that address.

19.
“ Wasting police time is a serious offence.
”
You can’t be charged for wasting police time for not
answering questions.

The cops may rough you up, or use violence to get a

confession (true or false) out of you. There are many
examples of people being fitted up and physically
assaulted until they admitted to things they hadn’t done.
It’s your decision to speak rather than face
serious injury. Just remember, what you say could get
you and others sent down for a very long time. However,
don’t rely on retracting a confession in court - it’s hard
to back down once you’ve said something.

In the police station the cops rely on peoples’ naivety. If

you are aware of the tricks they play, the chances are
they’ll give up on you. In these examples we have tried
to show how they’ll needle you to into speaking. That’s
why you have to know what to do when you’re
arrested. The hassle in the cop shop can be bad, but if
you are on the ball, you can get off. You have to be
prepared.

19
 NO COMMENT

WE’VE HAD A LOT OF EXPERIENCE OF

THE POLICE AND WE SIMPLY SAY:

1. Keep c
alm and c
when arre ool
sted
(remembe
r you are
playing w
ith the exp
now, on th erts
eir home
ground).
2. Don’t g
et drawn
conversati into
ons with th
police at a e
ny time.
3. Get a s
olicitor.
4. Never m
ake a
statement.
Having said nothing
5. If they
rough you
see a docto up, in the police
r immedia
after bein tely
g released
a written . Get station, you can
report of
all bruisin
g and
marking.
Take pho
then look at the
of all inju tos
ries.
Remembe evidence and work
r the cop’s
names an
d number
possible. s if out your side of
the story.

THIS IS HOW YOU WI

LL GET OFF.
 THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST

An interview is a no win situation.

You are not obliged to speak.
If the police want to interview you,
it shows you’re in a good position…

And the only way to stay in that

position is to refuse to be drawn
into any conversation and answer
“NO COMMENT” to any questions.

21
Q What can I do if one of my friends or family
has been arrested?
If someone you know is arrested, there's a lot you can
do to help him or her from outside.

1. If you know what name they are using ring the

police station (however if you're not sure don't
give their real name away). Ask whether they
are being held there and on what charges. How
ever remember that the cops may not tell you
the truth.

2. Remove anything from the arrested person’s

house that the police may find interesting:
computers, cameras, mobile phones/SIM cards,
address books, letters, false ID etc. in case the
police raid the place.

3. Take food, essential medicines etc. into the police

station for your arrested friend.

But don’t go in to enquire at the police station to ask

about a prisoner if you run the risk of arrest yourself.
You’ll only get arrested. DON’T GO ALONE.

The police have been known to lay off a prisoner if

they have visible support from outside. It’s solidarity
that keeps prisoners in good spirits.
THE DEFENDANT’S GUIDE TO ARREST
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