General information about the law, not legal advice. Each Act is linked at the foot of this page with the version read; those Acts are the official text to check.
Side by sideThree provisions, three sets of conditions
| State | When | What must happen next | Force |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales (LEPRA s 100) | A person “in the act of committing an offence under any Act or statutory instrument”, or who has just committed one, or who has committed a serious indictable offence for which they have not been tried. | Take the person, and any property found on them, before an authorised officer as soon as is reasonably practicable. | Such force as is reasonably necessary to make the arrest or prevent escape (s 231). |
| Victoria (Crimes Act s 458) | A person found committing an offence, where apprehension is believed on reasonable grounds to be needed for one of four listed reasons; when a police officer with the power says to; or a person believed on reasonable grounds to be escaping legal custody, helping another escape it, or avoiding lawful apprehension. | Take the person before a bail justice or the Magistrates’ Court, or deliver them to a police officer to be taken there. | Force not disproportionate to the objective, believed on reasonable grounds to be necessary (s 462A). |
| Queensland (Criminal Code s 546) | For an offence where the offender may be arrested without warrant generally: a person found committing it, among other cases. | Take the person forthwith before a justice, or immediately deliver them into the custody of a police officer (s 552). | Not stated here: this guide has not read the Code’s force provisions. |
New South WalesSection 100, in full
Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002, s 100
“(1) A person (other than a police officer) may, without a warrant, arrest a person if”: “(a) the person is in the act of committing an offence under any Act or statutory instrument, or (b) the person has just committed any such offence, or (c) the person has committed a serious indictable offence for which the person has not been tried.”
“(2) A person who arrests another person under this section must, as soon as is reasonably practicable, take the person, and any property found on the person, before an authorised officer to be dealt with according to law.”
An authorised officer is not a police officer. The Act defines the term as a Judge of the Local Court, a Children’s Judge of the Children’s Court, a registrar of the Local Court, or an Attorney General’s Department employee whom the Attorney General has made one.
On force, section 231 applies to a police officer “or other person who exercises a power to arrest another person”, who “may use such force as is reasonably necessary to make the arrest or to prevent the escape of the person after arrest.”
VictoriaSection 458, in plain words
Any person, whether a police officer or not, may apprehend another without a warrant in three cases (s 458(1)):
- a person they find committing any offence, indictable or summary, if they believe on reasonable grounds that apprehension is needed to get the offender to court, keep public order, stop the offence going on or another being committed, or for the safety or welfare of the public or the offender;
- when told to by a police officer who has power under the Act to apprehend that person;
- a person they believe on reasonable grounds is escaping legal custody, helping another escape, or avoiding lawful apprehension.
Two limits narrow paragraph (a). There, “offence” does not include breaking a rule, regulation or by-law made under an Act, unless an Act expressly says it does (s 458(2)). And for an offence punishable only summarily, the person may be held only while a paragraph (a) reason lasts, and must be released, before any charge, once it ends (s 458(3)).
On force, section 462A allows force that is not disproportionate to the objective and that the person believes on reasonable grounds is necessary, to prevent an indictable offence or to make or help make a lawful arrest.
QueenslandSection 546, read with sections 5 and 552
Section 546 of the Criminal Code applies “When an offence is such that the offender may be arrested without warrant generally”. Section 5(2) supplies the key: “Except when otherwise stated, the definition of an offence as a crime imports that the offender may be arrested without warrant.” For other offences it applies only where the law says so, so it is not a power for every offence.
Among the cases section 546 makes lawful for such an offence:
- “(c) it is lawful for any person who finds another committing the offence to arrest the other person without warrant”;
- “(d) if the offence has been actually committed”: “it is lawful for any person who believes on reasonable ground that another person has committed the offence to arrest that person without warrant, whether that other person has committed the offence or not”;
- paragraph (e), a person found by night in circumstances giving reasonable grounds to believe they are committing the offence, where the arresting person does believe it.
Paragraph (b) covers helping a police officer who asks. Sections 549 (an indictable offence found being committed by night) and 550 (a person escaping and freshly pursued) add two more cases.
The duty afterwards is in section 552: “It is the duty of a person who has arrested another upon a charge of an offence to take the other person forthwith before a justice to be dealt with according to law.” It is enough if the person “immediately delivers the arrested person into the custody of a police officer.”
The licenceWhat a security licence adds
None of these provisions mentions a security licence. In New South Wales the Security Industry Act adds that a licence “does not confer on the licensee any function apart from a function authorised by the licence”, so a licensed bodyguard or crowd controller arrests under section 100 like any other person who is not a police officer.