The Police Reform Act 2002 (c.30) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. Amongst the provisions of the Act are the creation of the role of Police Community Support Officers, who have some police powers whilst not being 'sworn' constables, and the ability for chief constables to confer a more limited range of police powers on other (non-sworn) individuals as part of

Community Safety Accreditation Scheme Community safety accreditation schemes enable the chief constable of a Law enforcement in the United Kingdom, police force in the United Kingdom (Except Scotland ) to grant a limited range of police powers to employees of non-police organisation ...

s. The Act also replaced the

Police Complaints Authority This is a list of notable authorities, agencies and similar bodies that are responsible for investigating or responding to complaints about police. Asia Hong Kong *Independent Police Complaints Council India * Police Complaints Authority (In ...

with the

Independent Police Complaints Commission The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales. On 8 January 2018, th ...

(later replaced by the

Independent Office for Police Conduct The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales which, since 8 January 2018, is responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and W ...

Section 59

Section 59 of the Act is a common tool now used by police constables and police community support officers (PCSOs) to seize vehicles being used in an anti-social manner. Vehicles can be seized if the police officer / PCSO reasonably believes that a mechanically propelled vehicle is being used in a manner:section 59, Police Reform Act 2002
/ref> *causing, or likely to cause alarm, distress or annoyance to the public, *and: **contravenin
section 3
(careless/inconsiderate driving), or **contravenin
section 34
(prohibition of off-road driving/driving other than a road) of the

Road Traffic Act 1988 The Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, concerning licensing of vehicles, insurance and road regulation. Contents Part I contains a number of traffic offences including causing death by dangerous drivi ...

. Vehicles should be issued with a warning first, unless this is impracticable. An example of it being impractical would be the offenders leaving the vehicle/making off or the vehicle being unregistered and unable to be traced - therefore a warning unable to be placed. If an officer also reasonably believes a warning has been given within the past 12 months - whether or not recorded on the

Police National Computer The Police National Computer (PNC) is a database used by law enforcement organisations across the United Kingdom and other Non-Law Enforcement Agencies. Originally developed in the early 1970s, PNC1 went 'live' in 1974 providing UK police forc ...

or similar system, they can seize the vehicle immediately.

References

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom Anti-social behaviour United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2002 Police legislation in the United Kingdom {{UK-statute-stub