Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

will provide a sufficient basis on which to charge him/her or which willremove the original suspicion on which he/she has been arrested.6.2.9 Section 14 detention provides a police officer with the power to ask questionswhich he/she considers to be relevant to the investigation of the crime ofwhich the detainee is suspected. The detainee has an absolute right not toanswer any or all of the questions other than to provide his/her name, address,place and date of birth and nationality 5 . The detainee does not, however, havea right not to be asked questions. Within the maximum detention periodallowed, the interviewing officer is entitled to put each and every questionhe/she chooses to the suspect 6 . Especially where there has been inadequatetime for police preparation, this can result in lengthy and repetitiveinterrogation, sometimes to little effect.6.2.10 The police may decide that, although they wish to question a suspect, there isno need to detain him/her for that purpose. That will be possible where thesuspect simply agrees to be interviewed. Such an interview could occur, forexample, at the locus of an offence, at the suspect’s home or in a police stationif the suspect is content to attend voluntarily. Unless and until he/she isformally detained, the suspect remains at liberty and can terminate thequestioning whenever he/she chooses.6.2.11 When an interview occurs with the suspect voluntarily attending the policestation, the procedure adopted is almost identical to that used when a suspect5 1995 Act s 14(9) and (10)6 1995 Act s 14(7)173