Guidance: User guide to police powers and procedures

This user guide is designed to be a useful reference document with explanatory notes on the issues and classifications that are key to the production and presentation of the Home Office’s annual statistics on the use of Police powers and procedures in England and Wales.

Prior to September 2024, the ‘Police powers and procedures’ statistical bulletin was published as 2 reports. Given the volume and variety of topics covered, a decision has been made to split the release into 3 separate statistical bulletins, with an additional bulletin on police protests powers (totalling 4 bulletins).

The first release covers the use of stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions. The second contains the use of roads policing powers, which covers fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences and breath tests. The third part of this statistical series contains the use of protest powers, which covers the use of powers under sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022). The fourth release covers the use of Police custody (including detentions over 24 hours, intimate searches) and pre-charge bail.

1.2 Where are the latest published figures?

Dates of future releases are pre-announced on the statistics: release calendar on GOV.UK.

Home Office statistical releases in the Police powers and procedures series are available on the GOV.UK website. Prior to the year ending March 2008 this data was published by the Ministry of Justice. Data for earlier years can be found on the Police powers and procedures archive page.