Divisional Court
![handle is hein.journals/jcriml48 and id is 343 raw text is: DIVISIONAL COURT
POLICE POWERS-TOUCH AND RESTRAINT
Collins v. Wilcock
A police officer can quite lawfully touch a person to engage his
attention, but there is an important difference between a touch to
attract attention and a physical restraint, which is not acceptable. In
the present case of Collins v. Wilcock [1984] The Times, April 17,
two police officers watched, from a police car, two women, one of
whom they knew was a prostitute, engaged in soliciting. When the
police asked them to get into the car to answer questions, Collins,
the appellant, refused and on a second request refused again and
began to walk away. When the woman police officer got out of the
car and took hold of her left arm to restrain her, she swore viciously
and scratched the officer's arm. She had refused to give her name
and address and unlike the other woman she had walked on. When
the stipendiary magistrate fined her £50 for assault on the police,
she appealed by way of case stated.
The Divisional Court held that although the touching of a person
to get his attention was acceptable, a physical restraint was not. A
police officer only had the power to use physical restraint when he
was exercising his power of arrest, but apart from that, the police
were in no better position than other members of the public. In each
particular case, whether physical contact was unlawful, depended on
the degree of force used. In the present case the taking hold of the
appellant's arm constituted a battery and was, therefore, unlawful.
Dorothy J. Wilson
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1972-MEANING OF ROAD
Kreft v. Rawcliffe
Road is defined in section 196 of the Road Traffic Act 1972 as
any highway and any other road to which the public has access. .
321](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jcriml48&div=53&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Divisional Court
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