What powers does a bodyguard actually have in the UK?

Arrest: the powers every member of the public has

In England and Wales, a close protection officer has the same powers of arrest as anyone who is not a constable, and no others. The main one is in section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. It applies only to indictable offences — those that can be tried in the Crown Court — being committed or already committed. The person arresting must have reasonable grounds to believe the arrest is necessary to stop someone causing injury, suffering injury, causing loss of or damage to property, or making off before a constable can take responsibility for them. It must also appear to the person arresting that it is not reasonably practicable for a constable to make the arrest instead.

The common law adds one more power, open to anyone: an arrest to stop or prevent a breach of the peace. The SIA’s training content for security operatives notes that a false arrest can lead to civil or criminal proceedings against the person who made it. There is a practical limit too: an officer holding a suspect on the pavement is no longer beside the principal.

Force: reasonable, and judged afterwards

In England and Wales, section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 lets any person use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances to prevent crime or to make or assist a lawful arrest. The common law of self-defence sits alongside it and includes defending another person — the part a protection officer relies on. Section 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 clarifies how those defences work. Force is judged against the circumstances as the person believed them to be. Except where someone lawfully in a home faces a person they believe to be an intruder, disproportionate force is not reasonable.

None of this is special to security work. An officer who steps between a principal and a threat relies on the same law as a passer-by who intervenes. Whether force was reasonable is decided by the police, prosecutors and ultimately a court, and a specific situation is one for the police or a solicitor.

No power to search, move people on or stop a camera

Searching is by consent. The SIA’s published position is that a licensed door supervisor may search inside a bag only if its owner has agreed, and statutory stop-and-search powers belong to the police. A close protection officer cannot search a stranger, a bag or a vehicle, however close they come to the principal.

On a public street an officer can ask, but cannot require, anyone to move — a fan, a protester or a photographer on the pavement. Powers to direct people away from an area belong to the police. The Metropolitan Police’s guidance is that members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places; an officer has no power to stop a photograph being taken, take a phone or insist that a picture is deleted. Someone who keeps turning up is a different matter, and one for the police — see what to do if you think you are being followed.

What changes on private property

Private property changes the position, though not because of the licence. The occupier decides who may be there and can have someone act for them, so an officer acting for the occupier of a house or a venue can refuse entry, make a bag check a condition of coming in, and ask someone to leave. The SIA’s door supervisor training states the rule for licensed premises: anyone who refuses to leave when asked becomes a trespasser and can be ejected using only such force as is necessary. A guest who declines a search can be refused entry, not searched regardless. At a private occasion, who is admitted and on what terms is settled with the host beforehand as part of event security.

No weapons, of any kind

In England and Wales it is an offence under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 to have an offensive weapon in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. Crown Prosecution Service guidance gives a soldier with a rifle and a police officer with a truncheon as examples of lawful authority, and says a constant or enduring threat, even a real one, is not a reasonable excuse. Pepper and CS sprays are prohibited weapons in Great Britain under section 5(1)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968, which covers weapons designed or adapted to discharge a noxious liquid or gas. Firearms are unlawful for private security in Great Britain, whatever the licence.

What the limits mean for the person paying

An officer who oversteps — takes hold of a stranger, pushes a phone aside, makes an arrest the law does not support — risks a civil claim or a prosecution, and any report of it may carry the principal’s name. Most of the work keeps a close protection officer well away from that line: the route and the timing, a security driver at the kerb so time on foot is short, a polite word before anything physical, and the police called early. Ask any provider how its officers are briefed on these limits; the question belongs with the other questions to ask a security company.

An evening at a restaurant with a photographer outside should end with the principal in the car before there is a clear picture to take. That is the standard we work to. The FAQ covers licensing, confidentiality and how an engagement begins.

Common questions