Recent Book: “Cop World”
| Published date | 01 October 1985 |
| Date | 01 October 1985 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X8505800427 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
RICHARD
STONE:
Entry.
Search
and
Seizure.
London:
Sweet &Maxwell. £35.
What
have rights of
entry
by police
into
private property. a
German
machine tool
manufacturer
and
Inland
Revenue
Commissioners
in
common?
The
answer
appears
to be
nothing
in
particular
but a
rather
loose convergence may be seen to
emerge in this
author's
book.
Although
much
of
what
the
author
has written is found elsewhere, this
book
will
interest police officers because it brings
together
a useful collection
of
police
powers involving rights of
entry
under
such early Acts as the
Cruelty
to Animals
Act of 1876to the
more
bizarre
and
twentieth
century
encapsulation
of technology
in the Video Recordings Act of 1984. In all 19 specific powers are
examined
as well as comprehensive discussion of
Part
II
of the Police
and
Criminal
Evidence
Act 1984.
The
convergence I have previously
mentioned
can be seen in the
chapter
on
Anton
Pillar
orders
which deals with civil
entry
to
property
with consent of the
occupier. With the
growth
of intellectual
property
there has been an
enormous
increase by plaintiff
manufacturers
and
producers
with regard to such
matters
as
copyright and the ease by which secret or confidential processes may
become
the
knowledge of competitors.
To
protect original rights the potential scope of such
orders is increasingly being resorted to by plaintiffs. Inevitably police officers are
drawn
into
such
matters,
first by
ensuring
a
breach
of the peace
does
not occur,
secondly where associated criminal offences may have occurred.
The
former
action
has been
approved
by the
courts
while the
latter
received a distinctly
jaundiced
view where police
acting
in executing a
warrant
under
the provisions of the
Theft
Act and by
arrangement
acted simultaneously with the execution of the order. At
one stage the
plaintiffs
solicitor was
thought
to be a police officer and the
Judge
clearly
thought
the
Anton
Pillar
order
was
made
more
oppressive
than
it would
otherwise have been.
Very wide powers of entry. search and seizure exist with
matters
involving
revenue
and
the case
of
I
RC
v. Rossminster illustrate the general
rather
than
specific
grounds
of
application
to a circuit
judge
for a
warrant.
Having
obtained
a
warrant,
which is the key to the
door,
s. 20 of the
Taxes
Management
Act
1970gives
power
to seize
and
remove, subject to
certain
immunity,
almost
anything
having abearing on the case.
This
case
and
the
various
statutory
powers are
examined.
Powers
of the
Customs
and
Excise
Commissioners
and
the writ of assistance are
also covered in detail as well as powers of
central
and
local government.
In all the
author
has
taken
on a
task
of Herculean
proportions
and
has
succeeded in
producing
acomprehensive
account
of this
area
of the law.
Inevitably at
certain
points
one is reminded of a
catalogue
rather
than
atext. but
that
price has to be paid when reviewing such a
disparate
collection of law
extending
to a multiplicity of officials.
A useful
book
for police officers
and
an essential ancillary to
any
Force
Headquarters,
it has 326 pages packed with
information
with, of course, the usual
tables and index. R. M.
PHILLIPS
JAMES
McCLURE:
"Cop
World".
Pan
Books. £2.95.
This isthe
paperpack
edition
of the
book
first published by
Macmillan
in 1984 in which
James
McClure
brings
San
Diego to life
through
the eyes of its police
department.
As he did for the Merseyside Police in England, the
author
presents an undiluted
view of policing a
modern
city with the
characterisations
of the
"cops"
formed
through
on-the-job
encounters
with
them
and
personal
involvement in the
multitudinous
tasks
with which they are
confronted.
Raw in places, splendidly realistic
and
graphically descriptive, the
book
provides
good
reading
and
informative
comment.
ED
364 October /985
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