Arrest and Interview

If you are arrested by the police you have certain rights and responsibilities.

While police can hold you for a reasonable time, they cannot arrest you simply to make enquiries. If you are arrested, you are entitled to know what you are under arrest for.

The police must advise you of your rights:

• you can contact a friend or relative to tell them where you are
• you can contact a lawyer
• you don’t have to say or do anything, and anything you say or do can be used against you.

After questioning is completed, the police will take your fingerprints. They are entitled to do this as a matter of law and they can use reasonable force if necessary.

On occasions, they can obtain a DNA sample.

After the interview

Depending on the circumstances, you may be:

• released pending further enquiries
• released from custody pending receipt of a summons
• released on bail, or
• kept in custody

Released from custody pending a summons

In this case the police release you from custody and a summons (a charge sheet) is given to some time later, obliging you to appear in court at a specified place and time.

Release on bail

Bail is an undertaking that you will attend court at a future nominated time and place. The issue of bail arises if police charge you with the offences immediately after the interview. The police can grant bail themselves from the police station or a court can grant bail. If you have to apply to a court for bail, it is important to have a lawyer representing you because you can generally only apply for bail once.

Different offences have different entitlements to bail. For most offences you have an entitlement to bail and you should be released on bail immediately. This is unless the police can successfully persuade the court that there is an unacceptable risk that you will not come to court, that you will commit further offences or interfere with witnesses.

For more serious offences, such as murder or serious drug trafficking, you can only be granted bail if you demonstrate to a court that there are exceptional circumstances justifying a grant of bail. If you are charged with armed robbery or committing an offence while on bail, you must show cause to a court why you should not be detained in custody.

Held in custody

A person is deemed to be ‘in custody’ if they are held in police cells or in a correctional facility or if they have not entered their bail.