Searches without warrant in emergency situations
63 Searches without warrant in emergency situations
This section applies if a police officer suspects, on reasonable grounds, that:
evidential material is in or on a conveyance; and
it is necessary to exercise a power under subsection (2) in order to prevent the material from being concealed, lost or destroyed; and
it is necessary to exercise the power without the authority of a search warrant because the circumstances are serious and urgent.
The police officer may:
stop and detain the conveyance; and
search the conveyance, and any container in or on the conveyance, for the material; and
seize the material if he or she finds it there.
If, in the course of searching for the material, the police officer finds other evidential material or a thing relevant to an offence against an Australian law, the police officer may seize that material or thing if he or she suspects, on reasonable grounds, that:
it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent its concealment, loss or destruction; and
it is necessary to seize it without the authority of a search warrant because the circumstances are serious and urgent.
The police officer must exercise his or her powers subject to section 64.
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