Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Regulation 2016

A detained person or protected suspect who is a vulnerable person is entitled to have a support person present during any investigative procedure in which the detained person or protected suspect is to participate.

However, a detained person or protected suspect who is a vulnerable person solely as a result of being a person of non-English speaking background is entitled to have a support person present only if an interpreter is not required to be arranged under section 128(1) of the Act solely because of section 128(3)(a) of the Act.

Before any such investigative procedure starts, the custody manager for the detained person or protected suspect must inform the person that the person is entitled to the presence of a support person during the investigative procedure.

If the detained person or protected suspect wishes to have a support person present, the custody manager must, as soon as practicable—

give the detained person or protected suspect reasonable facilities to enable the person to arrange for a support person to be present, and

allow the detained person or protected suspect to do so in circumstances in which, so far as practicable, the communication will not be overheard, and

if the person has asked a friend, relative, guardian or independent person communicated with to attend at the place where the person is being detained—allow the person to consult with the friend, relative, guardian or independent person in accordance with section 123(4) of the Act.

The custody manager must defer for a reasonable period any such investigative procedure until a support person is present unless the detained person or protected suspect has expressly waived his or her right to have a support person present.

An investigative procedure is not required to be deferred under subclause (5) for more than 2 hours to allow a support person to arrive at the place of detention.

A custody manager is not required to comply with subclauses (3)–(5) if the custody manager believes on reasonable grounds that—

doing so is likely to result in an accomplice of the detained person or protected suspect avoiding arrest, or

doing so is likely to result in the concealment, fabrication, destruction or loss of evidence or the intimidation of a witness, or

doing so is likely to result in hindering the recovery of any person or property concerned in the offence under investigation, or

doing so is likely to result in bodily injury being caused to any other person, or

the safety of other persons requires that the investigative procedure be carried out as a matter of urgency.