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Arrest for the purpose of fingerprinting
This power of arrest is designed to apply to somebody who appears at court after receiving a summons and who has not been taken to a police station under arrest. A constable may make an arrest without a warrant in order to have fingerprints taken at a police station. The following conditions must apply:
- You must have been convicted of a recordable offence - that is, most offences other than trivial or traffic offences.
- You must not have been fingerprinted in the course of the police investigation - or in connection with any matter since conviction - or if you were fingerprinted the set is incomplete or of insufficient quality to allow satisfactory analysis, comparison or matching.
- A ‘conviction’ here includes being cautioned in respect of a recordable offence which at the time of the caution you have admitted and also includes a warning or reprimand under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
- You must have failed to comply, within seven days, with the requirement made within one month of the date of conviction to attend a police station for fingerprinting.



