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Section 19: General power of seizure etc.

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 · 1984 c. 60View on legislation.gov.uk

Part II: Powers of Entry, Search and Seizure

The powers conferred by subsections (2), (3) and (4) below are exercisable by a constable who is lawfully on any premises.

The constable may seize anything which is on the premises if he has reasonable grounds for believing—

that it has been obtained in consequence of the commission of an offence; and
that it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent it being concealed, lost, damaged, altered or destroyed.

The constable may seize anything which is on the premises if he has reasonable grounds for believing—

that it is evidence in relation to an offence which he is investigating or any other offence; and
that it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent the evidence being concealed, lost, altered or destroyed.

The constable may require any information which is stored in any electronic form and is accessible from the premises to be produced in a form in which it can be taken away and in which it is visible and legible or from which it can readily be produced in a visible and legible form if he has reasonable grounds for believing—

that—
it is evidence in relation to an offence which he is investigating or any other offence; or
it has been obtained in consequence of the commission of an offence; and
that it is necessary to do so in order to prevent it being concealed, lost, tampered with or destroyed.

The powers conferred by this section are in addition to any power otherwise conferred.

No power of seizure conferred on a constable under any enactment (including an enactment contained in an Act passed after this Act) is to be taken to authorise the seizure of an item which the constable exercising the power has reasonable grounds for believing to be subject to legal privilege.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.