england-and-wales police
Does an English Police Officer have the authority to compel a purchase?
<p>Per these news article in the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9677683/Penny-Lancaster-dons-police-uniform-City-London-Special-Constable.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Daily Mail</a> and <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1448852/Penny-Lancaster-police-officer-special-constable-first-patrol-Rod-Stewart-news-latest" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Daily Express</a>, Special Constable Penny Lancaster arrived at the scene of a crime, to whit, a gentleman urinating inside a public sculpture. She then...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;...marched him to the nearest Boots, <strong>where she made him buy a bottle
of water</strong> and return to wash down the sculpture.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Can an English police officer compel a private citizen to purchase something (presumably in this case to avoid a formal charge)? What is their latitude in arresting/fining someone if they refuse to comply?</p>

<p>RockApe's answer is correct but I think it would be better to explain what did happen:</p>
<ol>
<li>the officer is not <em>compelling</em> the suspect to buy the water, she is <em>offering</em> him the opportunity of avoiding arrest, thus</li>
<li>if the suspect refuses to clean his mess, he will be arrested, but the charge will not be &quot;he refused to buy water&quot; but &quot;they urinated where he was supposed not to&quot; (however that translates into the English legal code). <em>That arrest would not be a punishment for not buying the water, but for the urination</em>.</li>
<li>In this case, buying the water seems to have been the most immediate way of getting the water required to clean. If there was some other water source (for example a public fountain) the police officer could have allowed the suspect to get the water from there.</li>
<li>Even if there was some public fountain and the police officer insisted in the accused buying the water, the situation would revert to 2 --&gt; the suspect can simply refuse and he will not be punished for refusing.</li>
</ol>

<p>For those unaware, urinating in public is usually an offence of breaching of a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-rule-and-government-model-byelaw-8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">local by-law</a>, and potentially an offence under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/section/5?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">s.5 of the Public Order Act 1986</a> (if it is disorderly behaviour etc).  Both can be dealt with by a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/caution-warning-penalty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Penalty Notice for Disorder</a> or, if the circumstances are such, by arresting the offender if the officer believes it necessary to do so.</p>
<p><strong>Can an English police officer compel a private citizen to purchase something?</strong></p>
<p><strong>No</strong>. The police have no statutory power to compel someone to purchase water to clean up their mess.</p>
<p><strong>What is their latitude in arresting/fining someone if they refuse to comply?</strong></p>
<p>Officers <em>may</em>, not must, issue a PND or arrest , per <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pace-code-g-2012" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2.4 of PACE Code G</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The power of arrest is only exercisable if the constable has reasonable grounds for believing that it is necessary to arrest the person .... and it remains an operational decision at the discretion of the constable to decide ... to issue a penalty notice or take any other action that is open to the officer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Other such action can include trying sort it matter out by <em>encouraging</em> the offender to see the error of their ways thus avoiding a fine/being arrested.</p>
