Section 19 PACE meaning

Section 19 PACE describes the police power, used in practice when officers are lawfully on premises (by warrant, statutory power or consent), to seize and remove items they reasonably believe were obtained through an offence or are evidence of an offence under investigation, where seizure is necessary to prevent concealment, loss, alteration or destruction. It is a statutory power in section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, applied routinely during searches (for example under a section 8 warrant or section 18 following arrest) to preserve evidence. Key features include: a “reasonable grounds” threshold; the necessity test; application only when lawfully on premises; and statutory protections for items subject to legal professional privilege, excluded material and special procedure material. In practice it is frequently used to seize digital devices; related powers on electronic information are found elsewhere in PACE. Seizure and retention are documented and governed by PACE Code B and section 22 (retention). Jurisdiction: Section 19 applies in England and Wales. Northern Ireland has broadly analogous seizure powers under its PACE framework. Scotland and Ireland operate under separate statutory and common law regimes; practitioners there use equivalent, not PACE, provisions.