[LINK] It's Queensland - (sorry to Qlders)

[rene]

On Thu, 26 May 2011 17:56:42 +0930, Steven Clark wrote:
[...]
> detaining a person is not the same as arresting them. a person
> detained for questioning is not necessarily under arrest, and there
> is a clear limit to how ling such detention can be prolonged.
> detention has softer requirements: arrest requires physical
> control over the suspect, detention can exist with mere inference
> that you 'have' to stay and/or 'have' to answer questions.

OK, they're not the same. My point was really that I'm under the impression 
that police in probably most AU jurisdictions have powers that would enable 
them to do the same thing as Qld Police did, that is, arrest without a 
warrant a person the officer "reasonably suspects has committed
or is committing an indictable offence" (or whatever type of offence a 
particular State law says), then question the person, then decide to 
dis-continue the arrest - referred to by Qld police as "un-arrest". For 
example, my reading of the NSW Police Code of Practice for CRIME (Custody, 
Rights, Investigation, Management and Evidence) indicates to me that NSW 
police have power to do the same thing. 

Are such powers typical throughout AU jurisdictions, or is Qld's (and NSW's 
if my reading is right) abnormal?

Irene