An arrest's the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the investigation and prevention of crime. The term's Anglo-Norman in origin and's related to the French word arrêt, meaning "stop". Procedure United States For serious crimes, the police typically handcuff the suspect (even if he/she isn't being violent) and bring him/her to a police station or a jail where he/she'll be incarcerated pending a judicial bail determination or an arraignment. In other inst… (More on Arrest)