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| Patrick Ducharme |
If a person has been arrested without warrant by a peace officer for an offence that is punishable by imprisonment for five years or less the officer in charge at the police station or another peace officer shall, as soon as practicable, release the person with the intention of compelling that person’s appearance by way of summons or promise to appear in court at a specified date and time.1 The “officer in charge” may release the person on entering into a recognizance without sureties in an amount not exceeding $500.
The officer in charge may also release a person who has been arrested with a warrant upon the person giving a promise to appear, or entering into a recognizance without sureties in an amount not exceeding $500 but without deposit of money or other valuable security, or, if the person is not ordinarily resident in the province or does not ordinarily reside within 200 km of the place where he is in custody, release the person on the person’s entering into a recognizance in an amount not exceeding $500 and upon the person depositing with the officer in charge such sum of money or other valuable security.
The officer in charge may also cause the person in custody to agree to other conditions of release such as not communicating directly or indirectly with any victim witness or other person or to abstain from possessing firearms.4 These releases from custody, whether the arrest is with warrant or without warrant, are commonly referred to as “OIC’s” or “officer in charge releases”.
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme's book, Canadian Criminal Procedure, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.
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