ARREST is a police power giving a police officer the right to temporarily restrict the movement of a specific person with the intention of bringing him/her in, detaining him/her or for performing another action defined by law. Upon arrest, the police officer will also carry out a security search on the person.
The person will be acquainted with the reasons for his/her arrest and also the consequence of resistance or an attempt to escape. If an arrest must be carried out carefully and immediately to ensure the safety of a police officer or to prevent a direct threat to the safety of persons or property, a police officer may immediately apprehend the individual, conduct a security search and then verify the individual's identity and acquaint him/her with the reasons for the arrest.
Upon the PRODUCTION of a person (on the basis of a written decision by the competent court and in legally prescribed cases, also without one), the Police will bring him/her onto their official premises, the official premises of another body, or to a defined place (e.g. the production of a person on the basis of an oral court decision or conveyance to a police station, if the apprehended person's identity cannot be established on location or if the individual failed to respond to a police summons or provide an excuse for his/her non-appearance, etc.).
DETENTION represents the deprivation of liberty of a person pursuant to the legally defined reasons (detention provisions are contained in the Minor Offences Act, Criminal Procedure Act, Police Act and State Border Control Act - the last defines conditions for detaining persons). The police officer will detain the individual in official detention premises or in the premises of another authority used for detention or serving prison sentence (in the case of the latter, the detained person must be physically separated from persons in pre-trial custody and those serving sentences).
A police officer may in exceptional circumstances also detain a person in another police premises or in a separated area of the police vehicle, but not longer than urgently required for the execution of the police procedure. All detention is limited by time (e.g. the police officer will detain a perpetrator until he/she sobers up if danger exists that the individual will continue his/her violations; the police may detain a person disrupting or threatening the public order for a maximum of 24 hours if public order cannot be established in any other way or if the threat cannot otherwise be avoided, etc.).
Notice of the rights of a person who has been arrested
If a person resists arrest, production or detention, the police officer may use coercive measures. Depending on the type of resistance, the person may also commit a criminal offence by preventing an official from exercising their official function.