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Do the Police need a warrant to search a boat?

FadeToScarlet

By FadeToScarlet
in General Boating

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furnessvale Influencer

furnessvale

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my understanding is the only people who can force entry into a property are the custom and excise and your gas supplier. otherwise a warrant is needed, So my thinking is you could have told him to go away and get a court warrant first.

shaun

Sorry, you understand wrong. Wherever the police have a lawful power of entry, and others have posted when that is, they can effect entry by force if necessary.

 

The issue of warrants is quite separate. Diverting slightly, I always smile when someone on TV asks to see a warrant (and I don't mean warrant card) when they are being arrested for, say, murder.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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Jerra Veteran II

Jerra

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Where did the 95% figure come from? Plucked from thin air? And anyway, how would you know what level of certainty the policeman had in his mind?

 

I'm afraid that cannabis is still illegal, so until it is decriminalised a policeman who suspects that it is being smoked in a vehicle or premises can do a search. You may not agree with that particular law and neither do I, but it IS in fact their job to stop any law from being broken. It's nothing to do with being bigoted against people who aren't the same as them.

95%+ that is greater then 95% is what I would want a policeman to be before he came barging (no pun intended) on to a boat I owned.

 

So it is OK in your view for any policeman to say there may be a crime on the other hand there may not but I will still go and search. For me the slippery slope to a police state if you allow too many powers with no controls e.g. search warrants.

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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Well they clearly come alongside and board moving boats on the Thames quite regularly, as has happened to forum members.

 

I'm not sure under what powers they do this, but there doesn't in that case I think have to be any suggestion of suspicion of anything, because they seem to pick random rather than suspicious boats.

 

I realise it is not the same thing as them coming aboard if you are moored up somewhere, but nobody has in my memory questioned the rights of Police to board your boat when you are motoring past the House of Parliament.

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furnessvale Influencer

furnessvale

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95%+ that is greater then 95% is what I would want a policeman to be before he came barging (no pun intended) on to a boat I owned.

 

So it is OK in your view for any policeman to say there may be a crime on the other hand there may not but I will still go and search. For me the slippery slope to a police state if you allow too many powers with no controls e.g. search warrants.

"reasonable suspicion" is what is required for many things within police powers.

 

Whether the suspicion is reasonable or not can be tested by a court where an officer has to justify his actions.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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MHS Experienced

MHSDonate to Canal World

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So it is OK in your view for any policeman to say there may be a crime on the other hand there may not but I will still go and search. For me the slippery slope to a police state if you allow too many powers with no controls e.g. search warrants.

If the police were all honest then I can see no problem with that. Sadly as we all know, that will never be the case.

 

There is the saying "you've nothing to worry if your doing nothing wrong."

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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A friend of mine had their boat searched years ago and the police took away a film canister labelled grass. It was grass too, the green grass substitute for use on model railways.

 

.........And the bottle they took away marked "Dope" no doubt because they built those model aircraft where you need to paint it on to the paper wings!

 

I might label my filled cassettes as "S**t!" :lol:

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Simon clarke Contributor

Simon clarke

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What they can or cannot do is makes no difference. They will still do it and who is going to take any notice of you? Sure you could sue the chief constable if you have the money and time to waste. As for the cannabis, I'm quite happy doing coffee and tobacco but don't think it's worse than booze, certainly think my council tax could be better spent than harrasing someone smoking weed.

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Leo No2 Rising Star

Leo No2

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Under the powers that they have a reason to wish to check your boat. It's happened to me - they are called, IIRC, routine checks and they come alongside whilst you maintain speed and heading and one or two of the Met River Police board your boat. They ask a few questions such as where have you come from, where are you going etc etc. They may or may not want to walk through the boat - they didn't with me. I believe it was brought in under the aegis of Operation Kraken - http://content.met.police.uk/Site/marinepolicingprojectkraken

 

I understand they are very concerned that a boat may be used to blow something up on the Thames - a bridge, Houses of Parliament - the 70m exclusion zone there won't stop much if you are really determined. Less attention if you are in a group - more if you are by yourself I believe. I was in a group of four when boarded. Men in uniform coming aboard !!!

Edited by Leo No2
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Southern Star Experienced

Southern Star

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Like the electric chair, anti-cannabis legislation was born from a trade war between two Americans.

 

The decision of the United States Congress to pass the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was based on hearings and reports.[36][37] In 1936 the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) noticed an increase of reports of people smoking marijuana, which further increased in 1937. The Bureau drafted a legislative plan for Congress seeking a new law, and the head of the FBN, Harry J. Anslinger, ran a campaign against marijuana.[38][39] Newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst's empire of newspapers began publishing what is known as "yellow journalism", demonizing the cannabis plant and putting emphasis on connections between cannabis and violent crime.[40]Several scholars argue that the goal was to destroy the hemp industry,[41][42][43] largely as an effort of Hearst, Andrew Mellon and theDu Pont family.[41][43] They argue that with the invention of the decorticator hemp became a very cheap substitute for the wood pulpthat was used in the newspaper industry.[41][44] They also believe that Hearst felt that this was a threat to his extensive timber holdings

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

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It's happened to me - they are called, IIRC, routine checks and they come alongside whilst you maintain speed and heading and one or two of the Met River Police board your boat. They ask a few questions such as where have you come from, where are you going etc etc. They may or may not want to walk through the boat - they didn't with me.

 

They were less successful when they tried to board Graham and Jane Oliver's "Alnwick", though. The story is I'm sure on here, but basically the first officer attempting to board failed the test, and his colleagues then had to abandon stopping "Alnwick", whilst they went back to scoop him up!

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Leo No2 Rising Star

Leo No2

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They were less successful when they tried to board Graham and Jane Oliver's "Alnwick", though. The story is I'm sure on here, but basically the first officer attempting to board failed the test, and his colleagues then had to abandon stopping "Alnwick", whilst they went back to scoop him up!

They told me they knew what they were doing and as long as I maintained speed and heading they would be fine - I am really not surprised to hear at least one of them has fallen in! :D

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journeyperson Experienced

journeypersonDonate to Canal World

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I thought that these days it wasn't illegal to possess cannabis for personal consumption. If that's the case, thinking you can smell cannabis shouldn't be a reason for searching a boat.

 

I quite often get a whiff of it just passing people on the street. I thought that was because the law had been relaxed but perhaps it's just because there are no beat bobbies any more.

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Grace and Favour Veteran II

Grace and Favour

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I thought that these days it wasn't illegal to possess cannabis for personal consumption. If that's the case, thinking you can smell cannabis shouldn't be a reason for searching a boat.

 

I quite often get a whiff of it just passing people on the street. I thought that was because the law had been relaxed but perhaps it's just because there are no beat bobbies any more.

I believe that to be the case - however - if, for any reason, one of Her Majesty's Constabulary should believe, or have reason to believe, that an accommodation or occupant is involved in selling the substance, then the Officer(s) may feel perfectly entitled to enter

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Simon clarke Contributor

Simon clarke

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I thought that these days it wasn't illegal to possess cannabis for personal consumption. If that's the case, thinking you can smell cannabis shouldn't be a reason for searching a boat.

 

I quite often get a whiff of it just passing people on the street. I thought that was because the law had been relaxed but perhaps it's just because there are no beat bobbies any more.

It's a class b drug. lol

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