Your rights on arrest come from two places at once: section 42 of the Constitution and the detailed duties in the Arrest Act (Chapter 339). The Constitution supplies the guarantee; the Act supplies the machinery. Knowing both is what makes the rights usable.
At the moment of arrest
Section 14 tells the arresting person exactly what to do. Where the person does not resist and they share a common language, the authorised person shall, at the time of arrest:
- advise the person that he is under arrest; and
- advise the person of the reason for his arrest; and
- request the person to accompany him to a police station, court or place of confinement.
Where they do not share a common language, or the person cannot be spoken to because of a mental or physical condition, the arresting person must indicate by reasonable means that they are under arrest and are to accompany him. The duty to communicate does not disappear because communication is difficult.
How much force is allowed?
Where a person resists — by force, by refusing to move, by running away or otherwise evading arrest — section 14(1)(c) permits the authorised person to use all reasonable means to make the arrest. But section 14(2) immediately cuts it back: this does not justify the use of greater force than is reasonable in the circumstances.
That limitation is repeated deliberately throughout the Act — in sections 16(2), 17(2), 21(2) and 22(6). The message is unmistakable: force must be proportionate, and excessive force is unlawful even where the arrest itself is lawful.
At the police station: section 18
Under section 17, a policeman who makes an arrest shall take the person without delay to a police station or before a court. Section 18 then sets out what the officer-in-charge of that station must do, and it is the provision families most need to know.
He must consider releasing you
The officer-in-charge shall immediately release the person if he considers that they did not commit the offence or any other offence and there is no other reason to justify detention; or that there are good reasons why they should not be proceeded against; or that proceedings can be effectively taken by way of summons instead.
If you are not released
The officer must take the person into custody and enter their name in a permanent register of arrests, with the nature of the offence or, if the arrest was for another reason, that reason. That register is an official record, and it matters later.
He must tell you three things
Section 18(1)(c) requires the officer to promptly inform the arrested person, in a language he understands, of:
- the reason for his arrest; and
- details of the charges against him; and
- his right, immediately and in private, to communicate with a member of his family or a personal friend, and to give instructions to a lawyer of his choice — including the Public Solicitor if he is entitled to legal aid.
Section 18(2) reinforces it: the officer-in-charge shall at all times permit those detained at the station, whenever practicable and without delay, to communicate in private with a family member or friend and with a lawyer of their choice. Ask for this by name, and ask that your request and its time be recorded.
He must consider bail
Under section 18(1)(d) the officer-in-charge shall, as soon as practicable, consider and accordingly grant or refuse bail in accordance with the Bail Act. If bail is not granted, or the person otherwise remains in custody, the officer must take them before a court without delay.
Sections 18(1)(f) and (g) add a rarely-heard safeguard: where bail has been granted but the person is still in custody at the station, they must be brought back before a court after each 14 days. Detention is not allowed to drift unnoticed. See What is bail in Papua New Guinea?
Finger-prints, photographs and medical examinations
Section 21 allows a commissioned officer or the officer-in-charge to take identification particulars — photograph, finger-prints and palm-prints — from a person in lawful custody on a charge, using reasonable force if necessary and no more.
The part worth knowing is what happens next. If the person is not convicted, or an appeal against conviction is upheld, all records and copies shall be destroyed within one month after the proceeding concludes — and if the person asks before destruction, they are entitled to be present, at their own expense and at a station they nominate, to witness it.
Section 22 permits a medical examination of a person in custody only where an officer believes on reasonable grounds it would provide evidence relating to the offence and either the person has given written consent or a court has ordered it.
Write down names, ranks, dates, times and locations while you remember them, seek medical attention and ask for a report, and get advice quickly. Section 26 of the Arrest Act allows a claim in damages, and section 58 of the Constitution allows compensation for breach of a right. See suing for a wrongful arrest, and contact the Office of the Public Solicitor.