A person who has been apprehended without a warrant must be immediately delivered into the custody of the police officer in charge of the nearest police station [see Summary Offences Act 1953 (SA) s 78(1)]. The nearest police station is the nearest station from the place of apprehension which has facilities for the care and custody of the person, or the City Watch House (when apprehended within 30 kms of the General Post Office at Adelaide [see Summary Offences Act 1953 (SA) s 78(6)].

The responsible officer of a police facility must, as soon as reasonably practical after a person is delivered into their custody, ask the person if they are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. If the person identifies themselves as (or appears to the responsible officer to be) an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, the responsible officer must inform the person that Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Ltd (‘ALRM’) will be notified by telephone of the person’s detention. If the telephone call is unanswered, ALRM must be notified by email to a dedicated email address provided by ALRM for that purpose (being an email address that ALRM has undertaken to monitor). A responsible officer who fails to comply with the further requirements set out in Part 5A of the Summary Offences Regulations 2016 (SA) (without reasonable excuse) may be subject to disciplinary action (under the Police Complaints and Discipline Act 2016 (SA)).

When a person has been arrested without a warrant on the suspicion of having committed a serious offence, a police officer may refrain from placing that person into custody at the nearest police station for up to four hours (or up to 8 hours with the authorisation of a Magistrate) to enable completion of the investigation of the suspected offence [see Summary Offences Act 1953 (SA) s 78(2); s 78(3) for authorisation by a Magistrate; and s 78(6) for prescribed period]. Applications to the Magistrate are governed by Chapter 5 Part 3 Division 3 of the Uniform Special Statutory Rules 2022 (SA).

A serious offence is an indictable offence or an offence punishable by imprisonment for two years or more [see s 78(6) for definition of serious offence].

During this time, a police officer may take the arrested person to places connected with the suspected offence [see Summary Offences Act 1953 s 78(2)]. During the period of detention for investigation, the arrested person is not eligible for release on bail and need not be informed of a right to apply for bail [see Bail Act 1985 (SA) s 4(2); and Application for Police Bail (below)].