What is required for a lawful arrest?

A lawful arrest is fundamentally based on the concept of probable cause supported by law. This means that a police officer must have a reasonable belief, grounded in facts and circumstances known to them at the time of the arrest, that a person has committed, is committing, or will commit a crime. Probable cause is not based on mere suspicion or intuition; it relies on observable facts, information from reliable sources, or evidence that can support a reasonable belief that a crime has occurred.

A search warrant, while important for conducting searches, is not required for an arrest unless the arrest is made in relation to a specific search of a premises. Conversely, intuition alone is insufficient to justify an arrest, as it must be backed by specific, articulable facts. Prior evidence of wrongdoing could support the case for probable cause, but the existence of just prior evidence doesn’t automatically make an arrest lawful unless it meets the required standard of probable cause.