Under current law, British police can arrest a person for offences that carry a prison sentence of five or more years. At the same time, the law contains a huge number of exceptions, which, as the ministry insists, often confuses police work.
Now the ministry proposes to allow police officers to arrest people for any offence. It intends to develop special guidelines that will define cases when an arrest is truly necessary. It is believed that the new law will not lead to more arrests, but will only resolve existing contradictions.
The ministry also proposes allowing police to check whether a detainee is under the influence of drugs, regardless of whether charges have been brought against him. It is also seeking the possibility of conducting searches at all addresses where the suspect has been seen, rather than just one, as is done now.
As for road patrols, it is proposed to allow police to take fingerprints from drivers of all cars they stop.
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