Crimes Act 1961

Matters of justification or excuse - Breach of the peace

42: Preventing breach of the peace

You could also call this:

"Stopping someone who is causing trouble or disturbing the peace"

Illustration for Crimes Act 1961

If you see someone breaking the peace, you are allowed to step in and stop them. You can hold them until a police officer arrives, but you must not use more force than you need to. You should only use as much force as is necessary to stop the trouble from continuing or happening again. If you are a police officer and you see someone breaking the peace, you can arrest that person. You can also arrest someone if you are helping a police officer. A police officer can take someone into custody if another person, who has seen the trouble, hands them over, or if the police officer believes that person has seen the trouble and is telling the truth.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM328261.


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Part 3Matters of justification or excuse
Breach of the peace

42Preventing breach of the peace

  1. Every one who witnesses a breach of the peace is justified in interfering to prevent its continuance or renewal, and may detain any person committing it, in order to give him or her into the custody of a constable:

    provided that the person interfering shall use no more force than is reasonably necessary for preventing the continuance or renewal of the breach of the peace, or than is reasonably proportionate to the danger to be apprehended from its continuance or renewal.

  2. Every constable who witnesses a breach of the peace, and every person lawfully assisting him or her, is justified in arresting any one whom he or she finds committing it.

  3. Every constable is justified in receiving into custody any person given into his or her charge, as having been a party to a breach of the peace, by one who has witnessed it or whom the constable believes on reasonable and probable grounds to have witnessed it.

Compare
  • 1908 No 32 s 66