Rights and LimitsStopped in the street or in a vehicleSerious Violence Reduction Orders: suspicionless search by name
Serious Violence Reduction Orders: suspicionless search by name
What you must do, and what you can refuse
Every claim below links to the law it comes from, with the wording quoted so you can check it yourself.
You must
Refusing is a criminal offence.
While the order is in force a constable may search you, as the person subject to it, for a bladed article or an offensive weapon.
Sentencing Act 2020, s.342E(2)
“A constable may search the offender for the purpose of ascertaining whether the offender has a bladed article or an offensive weapon with them.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
You may be detained for the purpose of carrying out that search.
Sentencing Act 2020, s.342E(3)
“A constable may detain the offender for the purpose of carrying out the search.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
Lawful to refuse — but it costs you
Not an offence, but it carries a penalty or an inference.
The search power under the order is stated with no requirement of reasonable grounds at all.
Contrast s.1 PACE, which does not permit a search unless the officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting they will find something. Under an SVRO the fact of the order is the authority.
Sentencing Act 2020, s.342E(2)
“A constable may search the offender for the purpose of ascertaining whether the offender has a bladed article or an offensive weapon with them.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
The search power only applies while you are in a public place.
Sentencing Act 2020, s.342E(5)
“The powers in this section may be exercised only while the offender is in a public place.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
This is not a police power — it is a court order about you
A Serious Violence Reduction Order (SVRO) is not something an officer decides to impose in the street. It is a court order, made on top of your sentence when you are convicted of an offence as an adult, where the court is satisfied a bladed article or offensive weapon was used or carried in connection with the offence and considers the order necessary to protect the public or you.
SVROs were introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which inserted a new chapter into the Sentencing Act 2020. They have been rolled out as part of a trial in specific police force areas rather than nationally.
What the order actually does: suspicionless search
This is the distinctive feature. While an SVRO is in force against you, a constable can search you for a bladed article or offensive weapon — and detain you to carry out that search — without needing any grounds to suspect you on that particular occasion. Being the named subject of the order is enough. That is a real departure from ordinary stop and search, which always needs reasonable grounds under s.1 PACE unless a s.60 area authorisation is running.
The power only applies while you are in a public place, and an officer may use reasonable force if necessary to carry it out.
What you can still expect
The court must explain the order’s effects to you in ordinary language when it is made, including what a constable can now do under it. The order is not indefinite background surveillance — it is a specific power, tied to the specific act of being searched for a bladed article or offensive weapon in public, and nothing else.
If you are subject to one and think it is being misused — searches away from a public place, or search for something other than weapons — that is worth raising with a solicitor, since the power described here does not stretch that far on its own terms.
Last reviewed 2026-08-26. Next review due 2027-02-25. No solicitor has reviewed this page — see [email protected] if you think something here is wrong.