Law enforcement agency powers

A law enforcement agency (LEA) has powers, which other government subjects do not, to enable the LEA to undertake its responsibilities. These powers are generally in one of six forms: Exemptions from laws Intrusive powers, for search, seizure, and interception Legal deception Use of force and constraint of liberty Jurisdictional override Direction The types of powers and law exemptions available to a LEA vary from country to country. They depend on the social, legal, and technical maturity of the country, and on the resources available to LEAs generally in the country. Some countries may have no laws regarding a particular type of activity by its subjects at all, while other countries might have very stringent laws on the same type of activity. This will impact significantly on the legal structures, if any, that govern how an LEA can operate, and on how the LEA's use of powers is overviewed. Law enforcement agency powers are part of a broad range of techniques used for law enforcement, many of which require no specific legislative support or independent overview. See for a list of other law enforcement techniques. The powers and law exemptions granted to an LEA allow the LEA to act in a way which would typically be regarded as violating the rights of law complying subjects. Accordingly, to minimise the risk that these powers and law exemptions might be misused or abused, many countries have in place strong overview regimes to monitor the use and application of the LEA's powers and law exemptions. Overview regimes can involve judicial officers, be provided by internal audit services, by independent authorities, by the LEA's governing body, or some other civil mechanism. Generally, the use of powers and law exemptions fall into two loose categories: those that are deemed to be intrusive and might significantly impact the rights of a subject those that are relatively unintrusive and do not significantly impact the rights of a subject.