Arrest Without a Warrant

• Author: Steve Coughlan/Alex Gorlewski
• Pages: 136-139

136 Police Powers / Compelling Appearance

1.3(d) Arrest Without a Warrant

What type of

oence?1

Find

committing?2

1. Have reasonable

grounds?3

2. Find committing?3

3. Reasonably

believe there is a

warrant?3

No power to

arrest4

No No

Power to arrest4

(go to Chart 1.3(f))

Yes

Summary Indictable

Yes

This chart deals specically with the powers of arrest without a warrant avail-

able exclusively to peace ocers under s 495 of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985,

c C-46 [Code]. There are other powers of arrest, of course, most notably arrest

with a warrant (see Chart 1.3(b), Compelling Appearance with Prior Judicial

Scrutiny). Beyond that, s 494 sets out warrantless powers usually referred to

as “citizen’s arrest,” although the section makes them available to “any one.”

This means that they could also be used by peace ocers, though peace ocer

powers of arrest are broader and more likely to be applicable. In addition, ss

30 and 31 of the Code create powers of arrest to prevent a breach of the peace, a

power that has also been held to exist at common law (Hayes v Thompson (1985),

18 CCC (3d) 254 (BCCA)). Those other powers are rarely used, however, and in

the context of compelling a person to answer charges, the important provision

is s 495.

Powers to arrest are, in eect, divided by whether they apply to summary

conviction oences or to indictable oences. There are two primary standards

set out in s 495: that the ocer nds the person committing the oence, or that

the ocer has reasonable grounds to believe the person committed the oence.

See, generally, the discussion in Steve Coughlan, Criminal Procedure, 3d ed

(Toronto: Irwin Law, 2016) at ch 7, s C, Arrest Without a Warrant.