Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000

This Act may be cited as the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000.

This Act, other than sections 379, 373, 374, 375, 376 and 377 and schedules 2 and 3, commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation or 1 July 2000, whichever happens first.

Sections 373, 374, 375, 376 and 377 and schedule 2 commence on the date of assent.

Section 379 and schedule 3 commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

The dictionary in schedule 6 defines words used in this Act.

A note in the text of this Act is part of this Act.

The purposes of this Act are as follows—

to consolidate and rationalise the powers and responsibilities police officers have for investigating offences and enforcing the law;

to provide powers necessary for effective modern policing and law enforcement;

to provide consistency in the nature and extent of the powers and responsibilities of police officers;

to standardise the way the powers and responsibilities of police officers are to be exercised;

to ensure fairness to, and protect the rights of, persons against whom police officers exercise powers under this Act;

to enable the public to better understand the nature and extent of the powers and responsibilities of police officers;

to provide for the forced muster of stray stock.

This Act binds all persons, including the State, and, so far as the legislative power of the Parliament permits, the Commonwealth and the other States.

Nothing in this Act makes the State, the Commonwealth or another State liable to be prosecuted for an offence.

It is Parliament’s intention that police officers should comply with this Act in exercising powers and performing responsibilities under it.

For ensuring compliance with Parliament’s intention, a police officer who contravenes this Act may be dealt with as provided by law.

Examples—

1 A minor contravention, for example, forgetting to make an entry in a register, may amount to a ground for disciplinary action, other than misconduct, under the Police Service Administration Act 1990 for which a police officer may be dealt with under that Act, including by correction by way of counselling.

2 A contravention, for example, a police officer maliciously strip-searching a suspect in a public place, may amount to misconduct under the Police Service Administration Act 1990.

3 A contravention, for example, a police officer improperly disclosing to a criminal information obtained through the use of a listening device, may amount to corrupt conduct under the Crime and Corruption Act 2001.

4 A contravention, for example, a police officer deliberately holding a person in custody for questioning several hours after the end of a detention period with no intention of applying under this Act for an extension of the detention period, may amount to an offence of deprivation of liberty under the Criminal Code, section 355.

This Act does not prevent a police officer from speaking to anyone or doing anything a police officer may lawfully do apart from this Act when performing the police officer’s duties, whether or not in relation to an offence, without exercising a power under this Act or using any form of compulsion.

Also, it is not the purpose of this Act to affect the principle that everyone in the community has a social responsibility to help police officers prevent crime and discover offenders.

Unless this Act otherwise provides, this Act does not affect—

the powers, obligations and liabilities a constable has at common law; or

the powers a police officer may lawfully exercise as an individual, including for example, powers for protecting property.

This Act does not affect the common law under which a court in a criminal proceeding may exclude evidence in the exercise of its discretion or stay the proceeding in the interests of justice.

The object of this section is to allow police officers to rely generally on this Act, as opposed to a multiplicity of Acts, for their powers and responsibilities.

This section applies to a provision of another Act that confers a power or imposes a responsibility on a police officer.

To the extent of any inconsistency, this Act prevails over the provision, whether enacted before or after this Act, unless the provision makes express provision to the contrary.

This section applies subject to section 12.

This Act does not affect the powers or responsibilities a police officer has under an Act included in schedule 1.

Example—A police officer who has entered a place under section 609 may, under the Public Health Act 2005, section 157B, take a person to a treatment or care place within the meaning of chapter 4A of that Act.

However, subsection (1) does not prevent a police officer from exercising a power or performing a responsibility under this Act for giving effect to an Act included in schedule 1.

Example—It may be necessary for a police officer to use reasonable force under this Act to enter a place to detain a person without warrant under a provision of another Act because that Act does not include a provision allowing the police officer to use reasonable force to enter the place.

Also, it is lawful for a police officer to exercise a power in accordance with this Act for giving effect to an Act included in schedule 1 even though the other Act specifies the way the power may or must be exercised.