Phone SeizedUnited KingdomCan police take my phone, and what happens to it?
Can police take my phone, and what happens to it?
What you must do, what you can refuse, and what they can do
Every claim below links to the law it comes from, with the wording quoted so you can check it yourself.
What they can do
A power the law gives them over you or your device.
A constable searching you after arrest can seize anything they have reasonable grounds to believe might be evidence relating to an offence — not only the offence you were arrested for.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.32(2)(a)(ii)
“a constable shall also have power in any such case— to search the arrested person for anything— which might be evidence relating to an offence”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
A constable searching premises can seize anything they have reasonable grounds to believe is evidence of the offence under investigation, or of any other offence.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.19(3)
“The constable may seize anything which is on the premises if he has reasonable grounds for believing— that it is evidence in relation to an offence which he is investigating or any other offence”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
If information is stored electronically, a constable can require it to be produced in a form that is visible and legible, separately from seizing any hardware.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.19(4)
“The constable may require any information which is stored in any electronic form and is accessible from the premises to be produced in a form in which it can be taken away and in which it is visible and legible or from which it can readily be produced in a visible and legible form”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
The same production requirement reaches computer material that is accessible from the premises, even if it is not physically stored there.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.20(1)
“shall be construed as including a power to require any information stored in any electronic form contained in a computer and accessible from the premises to be produced in a form in which it can be taken away and in which it is visible and legible”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
PACE Code B para 7.6: if an officer considers information stored electronically and accessible from the premises could be used in evidence, they may require it to be produced in a form that can be taken away and is visible and legible, or from which it can readily be produced in that form.
PACE Code B (2023), para 7.6
“If an officer considers information stored in any electronic form and accessible from the premises could be used in evidence, they may require the information to be produced in a form:— which can be taken away and in which it is visible and legible, or— from which it can readily be produced in a visible and legible form.”
Read it at assets.publishing.service.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-09
Where it is not practical to separate what officers are entitled to seize from everything else on the device on the spot, the whole device can be seized so that can be worked out elsewhere.
Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, s.50(1)
“a person who is lawfully on any premises finds anything on those premises that he has reasonable grounds for believing may be or may contain something for which he is authorised to search on those premises,— that person's powers of seizure shall include power under this section to seize so much of what he has found as it is necessary to remove from the premises to enable that to be determined.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Limits on them
A rule that constrains them, or a remedy you can use.
Anything seized, or any information produced under a production requirement, may be retained only for as long as is necessary in all the circumstances — the law sets no fixed number of days.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.22(1)
“anything which has been seized by a constable or taken away by a constable following a requirement made by virtue of section 19 or 20 above may be retained so long as is necessary in all the circumstances.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
PACE Code B repeats the same test for officers: anything seized may be retained only for as long as is necessary.
PACE Code B (2023), para 7.14
“anything seized in accordance with the above provisions may be retained only for as long as is necessary”
Read it at assets.publishing.service.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Getting seized property back before police return it themselves means applying to a judicial authority on one of a set of specified grounds.
Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, s.59(2)
“Any person with a relevant interest in the seized property may apply to the appropriate judicial authority, on one or more of the grounds mentioned in subsection (3), for the return of the whole or a part of the seized property.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
On request, a person who shows they were the occupier of the premises, or had custody or control of the item immediately before it was seized, is entitled to a record of what was seized.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.21(1)
“A constable who seizes anything in the exercise of a power conferred by any enactment, including an enactment contained in an Act passed after this Act, shall, if so requested by a person showing himself— to be the occupier of premises on which it was seized; or— to have had custody or control of it immediately before the seizure, provide that person with a record of what he seized.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-09-08
Can they just take it?
Yes, in the circumstances PACE actually allows for — and those circumstances are wide. If you are arrested, a constable can search you for anything that might be evidence relating to an offence, and a phone almost always qualifies. During a lawful search of premises, a constable can seize anything they have reasonable grounds to believe is evidence of the offence being investigated — or of any other offence entirely.
None of this depends on the phone being switched on, unlocked, or handed over willingly. The power is a power over the object.
Getting it in a form they can read
Seizure is not limited to taking the handset away. If your phone stores information electronically, a constable can require that information to be produced in a form that is visible and legible — not just carried off as hardware. PACE Code B (para 7.6) tells officers the same thing: information that could be used in evidence may be required in a form that can be taken away and is visible and legible, or from which it can readily be produced in that form.
Whether that turns into a demand backed by a specific criminal offence for refusing is a separate question, governed by a narrower power — covered on the RIPA notice page — not by this seizure power on its own.
How long can they keep it?
There is no fixed number of days written into the law here. PACE says only that anything seized, or any information produced under a production requirement, may be retained for as long as is necessary in all the circumstances — and Code B repeats the same “as long as is necessary” test for officers handling it day to day.
“Necessary” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and it is judged case by case rather than against a clock.
Seize first, sift later
Modern phones hold years of messages, photos and other people’s data mixed in with whatever the police are actually looking for, and it usually is not practical to sort that out on your doorstep. Where an officer who is lawfully on the premises finds something they have reasonable grounds to believe may be, or may contain, what they are entitled to search for, the law lets them seize the whole thing so that question can be sorted out elsewhere.
That is what “seize and sift” means in practice: the device goes with the officer even though only part of what is on it — or none of it — may end up being relevant.
Getting it back
If you want it back before the police return it themselves, the route is an application to a judicial authority for the return of seized property, on one or more of a set of specified grounds. It is not automatic, and it is not simply a matter of asking the officer in the case.
If you show you were the occupier of the premises, or had custody or control of the item immediately before it was seized, you are also entitled, on request, to a record of what was seized — useful both for chasing it up and for showing what actually left your hands.
Last reviewed 2026-09-08. Next review due 2027-03-08. No lawyer has reviewed this page — see [email protected] if you think something here is wrong.