POLICE FAQ: You can use this resource to improve your knowledge and understanding about police and policing.
It is not the official police resource for England and Wales. But, checking through up-to-date factual content and references is a good place to start.
What are FAQs?
FAQs are frequently referred to as the five (5) ‘Ws’. They comprise who, what, when, where, and why? Often, ‘H’ (how?) takes an inclusion as the sixth and occasionally you will see a seventh (how much?).
Each query phrase gets regarded as a pertinent question whose answer cannot be a simple ‘yes‘ or ‘no‘. Learning answers to FAQ questions is a fundamental approach in problem-solving and information-gathering.
Got a Question about Law Enforcement?
Note: The overview sections list the most popular topics. Click through to explore further information on police questions and answers with legal references.
Age Limits
All the answers to popular questions on ‘when are you old enough to‘ carry out certain activities like:
- Driving a moped
- Getting a tattoo
- Working in a bar
Motoring Laws
Even law-abiding motorists can have some concerns about being targeted by the police – especially while driving on the roads and highways.
This section explains the most common police questions and answers about motoring laws in the United Kingdom.
Sunbathing Naked
Can sunbathing in the nude, such as in your own back garden, get you in trouble with the law? Well, the simple answer is ‘YES’ if doing so upsets your neighbours.
Let’s look at the law in more detail for a thorough answer:
“Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is not an offence for a person to appear naked in public. But, it becomes an offence if it can be proved that the person stripped off with the intention to cause distress, alarm, or outrage.”
Urinating in Public
Does the law make it an offence to urinate in a public place? Though rarely prosecuted, yes, urinating in a public place is an offence in the United Kingdom. In fact, as a rule it would be in breach of a local by-law.
Weapons
Common questions answered about carrying an offensive weapon in a public place, including:
Wolf Whistling
Men who whistle at a woman may end up in court if wolf whistling becomes a hate crime in the United Kingdom. There are some proposals to count misogyny as a hate crime instead of a hate incident.
In fact, wolf whistling is not illegal in the United Kingdom. Hence, it would be very unlikely to result in a prosecution until or unless the laws change.
Note: All the information and references in this section come from the Police National Legal Database. Contact them for further clarification if you cannot find the answer you were looking for.