Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, a police officer of inspector rank or higher has power to release a person who has not been charged on bail. This is deemed to be a release on bail in accordance with sections 3, 3A, 5 and 5A of the Bail Act 1976. (Before the Policing and Crime Act 2017 came into force, the arresting officer had this power, but now a suspect must normally be released without bail or charged.) This so-called "police bail" lasts 28 days (or 3 months in Serious Fraud Office cases), after which the suspect is required to report to a specified police station, where they may be charged or released. (Before the above-mentioned 2017 Act, the police had the power to extend bail for 28 days at a time arbitrarily many times, leading to some cases of people effectively being punished by restriction of liberty without due process for over a year before their case was dropped.)