# Armed Forces Act 2006, Section 314: Arrest by civilian police of deserters and absentees without leave

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) A civilian policeman may arrest without a warrant a person (“a relevant suspect”) who is reasonably suspected of being a person subject to service law who has deserted or is absent without leave.
(2) If an authorised person is satisfied by evidence given under oath or affirmation that a relevant suspect is or is reasonably suspected of being within his jurisdiction, he may issue a warrant for the arrest of the relevant suspect.
(3) In subsection (2) “authorised person” means a person who has authority in a relevant territory to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person suspected of an offence.
(4) A person arrested under this section must as soon as practicable be brought before a court of summary jurisdiction in the relevant territory in which he was arrested.
(4A) In this section “civilian policeman” means an officer of a UK police force or British overseas territory police force, other than a force or body constituted in Gibraltar.
(5) In this section “relevant territory” means—
(a) England and Wales;
(b) Scotland;
(c) Northern Ireland;
(d) the Isle of Man; or
(e) a British overseas territory other than Gibraltar.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/52/section/314 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/armed-forces-act-2006/section-314
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.