# Reserve Forces Act 1996, Section 100A: Arrest by civilian police of deserters and absentees without leave

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

(1) An officer of a UK police force may arrest without warrant a person who is reasonably suspected of being a member of a reserve force, or a person liable to recall, 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 England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person suspected of an offence;
“relevant suspect” means a person reasonably suspected of being a member of a reserve force, or a person liable to recall, who has deserted, is absent without leave or has committed an offence under section 95.
(4) In this section “UK police force” has the meaning given by section 375 of the Armed Forces Act 2006.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/14/section/100A (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/reserve-forces-act-1996/section-100A
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.

