CHAPTER 91

PART III
GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO ARREST, RECOGNISANCES AND SURETIES

11. (1) In making an arrest the peace officer or other person making the same Arrest. shall actually touch or confine the body of the person to be arrested, unless there be a submission to the custody by word or action.
(2) If the person to be arrested forcibly resists the endeavour to arrest him or attempts to evade the arrest, the peace officer or other person concerned may use all means necessary to effect the arrest:
Provided that nothing in this section contained shall be deemed to justify the use of greater force than was reasonable in the particular circumstances in which it was employed or was necessary for the apprehension of the offender.
12. (1) If any person acting under a warrant of arrest, or any peace officer having other authority to arrest, has reason to believe that the person to be arrested has entered into or is within any place, the person residing in or being in charge of such place shall, on demand of such person acting as aforesaid or such peace officer, allow him free ingress thereto and afford all reasonable facilities for a search therein.
(2) If ingress to such place cannot be obtained under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, it shall be lawful in any case for a person acting under a warrant and, in any other case in which a warrant may issue but cannot be obtained without affording the person to be arrested an opportunity to escape, for a peace officer to enter such place and search therein and, in order to effect an entrance into such place, to break open any outer or inner door or window in any house or place, whether that of the person to be arrested or of any other person, or otherwise effect entry into

such house or place, if, after notification of his authority and purpose and demand of admittance duly made, or there is no person present to whom he can make such demand, he cannot otherwise obtain admittance.

13. Any peace officer or other person authorised to make an arrest may break out of any house or other place in order to liberate himself or any other person who, having lawfully entered for the purpose of making an arrest, is detained therein.
14. A person arrested shall not be subjected to more restraint than is necessary to prevent his escape.
15. (1) Subject to the provisions of section 16 of this Code, whenever a person is arrested by a peace officer or a private person, the peace officer making the arrest or to whom the private person makes over the person arrested may search such person and place in safe custody all articles other than necessary wearing apparel found upon him:
Provided that whenever the person arrested can be legally admitted to bail and bail is furnished, such person shall not be searched unless there are reasonable grounds for believing that he has about his person any-
(a) stolen article; or
(b) instrument of violence or offensive weapon; or
(c) tool connected with the kind of offence which he is alleged to have committed; or
(d) other article which may furnish evidence against him in regard to the offence which he is alleged to have committed.
(2) The right to search an arrested person shall be exercised with strict regard to decency.
(3) Where any property has been taken from a person under this section and such person is not charged before any court but is released on the grounds that there is not sufficient reason to believe that he has committed any offence, any property taken from him under the provisions of this section shall forthwith be restored to him.
(4) An arrested person shall be furnished with a receipt for any property which has been taken from him under this section, and the receipt shall specify that property.
16. Whenever it is necessary to cause a woman to be searched, the search shall be made by another woman, who need not be a police officer, and with strict regard to decency.
17. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 15 of this Code, the peace officer or other person making an arrest may take from the person arrested any offensive weapon or instrument of violence which he has about his person, and shall deliver all articles so taken to the court or officer before which or whom the peace officer or person making the arrest is required by law to produce the person arrested.
18. A peace officer making an arrest without a warrant, in exercise of any powers conferred upon him by the Penal Code, the Police Act or any other law for the time being in force, shall, without unnecessary delay and not later than forty-eight hours after such arrest, take or send the person arrested before a magistrate appointed to preside in a magistrate's court having jurisdiction in the case, unless the person arrested be earlier released on bail by a police officer having power in that behalf under the provisions of section 32 of the Police Act.
19. (1) Notwithstanding section 18 or any other law, a police officer of at least the rank of inspector may make an ex parte application to a magistrate, to have any person arrested for any offence specified under the First Schedule to the Bail Act detained for a further period not exceeding forty-eight hours where the inquiry into that offence is incomplete and where the police officer-
(a) has to secure or preserve evidence relating to the offence;
(b) has reasonable grounds for believing that the person arrested will interfere with or harm the evidence connected with the offence or interfere with or cause physical injury to other persons;
(c) has reasonable grounds for believing that the persons arrested will alert other persons suspected of also having committed the offence who have yet to be arrested; or
(d) has reasonable grounds for believing that the person arrested will hinder the recovery of any property obtained as a result of the offence.
(2) Subject to subsection (1), where further detention is authorised the person arrested-

The Government of The Bahamas - Home http://134.irosoft.com/statutes/statute~CHAPTER~91.html

(a) shall be told the reason for such further detention; and
(b) the reason shall be noted on his custody record.
20. (1) Any person may arrest without a warrant a person who in his view commits a felony, or whom he reasonably suspects of having committed a felony provided that a felony has been committed. Any peace officer and any other person whom he may call to his assistance may also arrest without a warrant any person in the circumstances provided for in paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (1) of section 104 of the Penal Code.
(2) The owner of any property, or his servants or other persons authorised by him, may arrest without a warrant any person found in the act of committing an offence involving injury to such property.
(3) Any person arresting a person under the powers conferred by subsection (1) or (2) of this section, or under any powers under any law conferring powers of arrest upon persons other than a peace officer, shall without unnecessary delay make over the person so arrested to a peace officer or bring him before a magistrate.
(4) If any arrested person referred to in this section is brought before a peace officer and the peace officer is satisfied that there are grounds to suppose that he has committed an offence for which he may be arrested without a warrant, he shall re-arrest him, or if there is reason to believe that he has committed another offence, he shall be dealt with as if he had committed such other offence in the view of the peace officer concerned. Any person re-arrested by a peace officer under the provisions of this section shall thereafter be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of section 18 of this Code.
21. When any offence for which a person may be arrested, whether with or without a warrant, is committed in the presence of a magistrate, he may himself arrest or order any person to arrest the offender and may thereupon commit the offender, unless released on bail, to custody. Any order of a magistrate given under the provisions of this section, whether or not in writing, shall have the same force and effect as a warrant of arrest directed to the person required to carry out such order.
22. If a person in lawful custody escapes or is rescued, the person from whose custody he escapes or is rescued may immediately pursue and arrest him in any place in The Bahamas and may require any peace officer to assist him in so doing, and the provisions of sections 12 and 13 of this Code shall apply to action taken under the provisions of this section although such action is not taken under the authority of a warrant.

Article 58
Issuance by the Pre-Trial Chamber of a warrant of arrest or a summons to appear
5. On the basis of the warrant of arrest, the Court may request the provisional arrest or the
arrest and surrender of the person under Part 9.

Article 59
Arrest proceedings in the custodial State
1. A State Party which has received a request for provisional arrest or for arrest and surrender
shall immediately take steps to arrest the person in question in accordance with its laws and the
provisions of Part 9.
2. A person arrested shall be brought promptly before the competent judicial authority in the
custodial State which shall determine, in accordance with the law of that State, that:
(a) The warrant applies to that person;
(b) The person has been arrested in accordance with the proper process; and
(c) The person’s rights have been respected.
3. The person arrested shall have the right to apply to the competent authority in the custodial
State for interim release pending surrender.
4. In reaching a decision on any such application, the competent authority in the custodial
State shall consider whether, given the gravity of the alleged crimes, there are urgent and
exceptional circumstances to justify interim release and whether necessary safeguards exist to
ensure that the custodial State can fulfil its duty to surrender the person to the Court. It shall not be
open to the competent authority of the custodial State to consider whether the warrant of arrest
was properly issued in accordance with article 58, paragraph 1 (a) and (b).
5. The Pre-Trial Chamber shall be notified of any request for interim release and shall make
recommendations to the competent authority in the custodial State. The competent authority in
the custodial State shall give full consideration to such recommendations, including any
recommendations on measures to prevent the escape of the person, before rendering its decision.
6. If the person is granted interim release, the Pre-Trial Chamber may request periodic
reports on the status of the interim release.
7. Once ordered to be surrendered by the custodial State, the person shall be delivered to the
Court as soon as possible.

Article 92
Provisional arrest
1. In urgent cases, the Court may request the provisional arrest of the person sought, pending presentation of the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request as specified in article 91.
2. The request for provisional arrest shall be made by any medium capable of delivering a written record and shall contain:
(a) Information describing the person sought, sufficient to identify the person, and information as to that person's probable location;
(b) A concise statement of the crimes for which the person's arrest is sought and of the facts which are alleged to constitute those crimes, including, where possible, the date and location of the crime;
(c) A statement of the existence of a warrant of arrest or a judgement of conviction against the person sought; and
(d) A statement that a request for surrender of the person sought will follow.
3. A person who is provisionally arrested may be released from custody if the requested State has not received the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request as specified in article 91 within the time limits specified in the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. However, the person may consent to surrender before the expiration of this period if permitted by the law of the requested State. In such a case, the requested State shall proceed to surrender the person to the Court as soon as possible.
4. The fact that the person sought has been released from custody pursuant to paragraph 3 shall not prejudice the subsequent arrest and surrender of that person if the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request are delivered at a later date.