After an arrest
- Fingerprints, DNA and custody photographs: what they can keepEngland & Wales
Police can take your fingerprints, DNA sample and photograph without consent once arrested for a recordable offence. What happens to them afterwards depends entirely on whether you are convicted.
- Deleting your record: the ACRO process, and what it does not coverEngland & Wales
How to apply to have fingerprints, a DNA profile or a PNC record deleted through the national Record Deletion Process — and the little-known gap: custody photographs are not covered by it.
- Accepting a caution: what it actually meansEngland & Wales
A simple caution is a formal admission of guilt, not a way to avoid one. It goes on the Police National Computer and can still surface on a standard or enhanced DBS check years later.
- Pre-charge bail and released under investigationEngland & Wales
Leaving the police station is not the end of the case. Pre-charge bail now has a 3-month limit that can be extended; being released under investigation has none. The difference matters.
- Filming the policeEngland & Wales
Filming police officers doing their job in a public place is lawful. There is no general power to make you stop, delete footage, or hand over your device — and the Terrorism Act offence people cite is narrower than widely believed.
- Fingerprints, DNA and other samples in Scotland: what happens to themScotland
PACE does not apply in Scotland. Section 18 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 governs what can be taken on arrest, and — unlike England — prompt destruction is the default if you are not convicted.
- Recorded police warnings and fiscal fines: Scotland has no "caution"Scotland
Scotland does not operate a police caution scheme — "caution" in Scottish disclosure law means one given in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. The real alternatives here are the recorded police warning and the fiscal fine.
- Police liberation in Scotland: not bail, not "released under investigation"Scotland
Scotland has two separate release mechanisms under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 — investigative liberation, capped by law at 28 days, and release on undertaking after charge, which has no statutory maximum at all.