Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000

The responsible officer at a crime scene, or a police officer acting under the direction of the responsible officer, may do any of the following in relation to the crime scene—

enter the crime scene;

if reasonably necessary, enter another place to gain access to the crime scene;

perform any necessary investigation, including, for example, a search and inspection of the crime scene and anything in it to obtain evidence of the commission of an offence;

open anything at the crime scene that is locked;

take electricity for use at the crime scene;

dig up anything at the crime scene;

remove wall or ceiling linings or floors of a building, or panels or fittings of a vehicle;

remove or cause to be removed an obstruction from the crime scene;

photograph the crime scene and anything in it;

seize all or part of a thing that may provide evidence of the commission of an offence.Example for paragraph (j)—It may be necessary to seize and remove a vehicle for scientific examination to obtain evidence that may be in the vehicle.

However, if it is necessary to do anything at the place that may cause structural damage to a building, the thing must not be done unless a Supreme Court judge issues a crime scene warrant for the place before the thing is done and the warrant authorises the doing of the thing.

An authorised assistant at a crime scene may also do a thing mentioned in subsection (1).

However, the authorised assistant may do either of the following only if asked by a responsible officer to do something at the crime scene—

enter the crime scene;

if reasonably necessary, enter another place to gain access to the crime scene.