Exercise of crime scene powers in public place
178 Exercise of crime scene powers in public place
It is lawful for a police officer to exercise powers under sections 176 and 177 at a public place without a crime scene warrant.
However, if—
the place is a public place only while it is ordinarily open to the public; and
the occupier of the place asks a police officer or an authorised assistant to leave the place;
the police officer or authorised assistant may, despite the request, continue to act under subsection (1) for the time reasonably necessary for an application for a crime scene warrant for the place to be made and decided.
An authorised assistant at a crime scene may also do a thing mentioned in section 176(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 reasonable necessary, enter another place to gain access to the crime scene.
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandum
The statute text is free to read above. View subscription options to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.