Which document is used to authorize the arrest of an individual?

• A. Breaking Open Structure
• B. Notice Requirement
• C. Arrest Warrant (AW)
• D. Summers Doctrine

Answer: (C)

Arrest warrants are the formal document that gives police authority to take a named person into custody. Issued by a judge or magistrate after establishing probable cause (typically supported by an affidavit), the warrant specifies who is to be arrested and the offense involved, and it authorizes arrest anywhere within the issuing jurisdiction. This process provides judicial oversight and protects due process before liberty is restrained, though warrantless arrests are allowed in certain circumstances, such as when there is probable cause for a felony and immediate arrest is possible in public or under other statutory exceptions. The other terms aren’t instruments that authorize arrest: breaking open structure refers to entering a place to effect an arrest rather than a document; a notice requirement concerns informing someone rather than granting arrest authority; and the Summers doctrine relates to detentions that may occur during an arrest, not the document that authorizes it.