Enter and search powers under warrant
31 Enter and search powers under warrant
The
Commissioner may, on application by an investigator or on his or her own initiative, issue a warrant authorising an investigator or a police officer to enter and search—
a place occupied or used by an inquiry agency, public authority or public officer; or
a vehicle owned or used by an inquiry agency, public authority or public officer.
A judge of the Supreme Court may, on application by an investigator, issue a warrant authorising an investigator or a police officer to enter and search any place or vehicle.
A warrant may only be issued if the Commissioner or the judge is satisfied that the warrant is reasonably required in the circumstances for the purposes of an investigation into a potential issue of corruption in public administration.
An application for a warrant may be made personally or, if, in the opinion of the applicant, the warrant is urgently required and there is not enough time to lodge a written application and attend in person, by fax, email or telephone in accordance with practices and procedures prescribed, in the case of an application to the
Commissioner, by the regulations and, in the case of an application to a judge of the Supreme Court, by rules of the court.
The grounds of an application for a warrant must be verified—
if the application is made to the Commissioner—by statutory declaration; or
if the application is made to a judge of the Supreme Court—by affidavit.
A warrant must—
specify the place or vehicle to which the warrant relates; and
state whether entry is authorised at any time of the day or night or during specified hours of the day or night.
A warrant authorises an investigator or a police officer—
to enter and search and, if necessary, use reasonable force to break into or open—
the place or vehicle to which the warrant relates; or
part of, or anything in or on, a place or vehicle to which the warrant relates; and
to give directions with respect to the stopping or movement of a vehicle to which the warrant relates; and
in the course of executing the warrant—
to take photographs, films or audio, video or other recordings; and
to examine, copy or take extracts from a document connected with the investigation or any other investigation into corruption in public administration; and
to examine or test any thing connected with the investigation or any other investigation into corruption in public administration, or cause or require it to be examined or tested; and
if the investigator or police officer reasonably suspects that a person who is or has been on or in the place or vehicle has on or about his or her body evidence of a prescribed offence, to search the person;
and
to seize and retain anything that the investigator or police officer reasonably suspects has been used in, or may constitute evidence of, a prescribed offence, or issue a retention order in respect of such a thing requiring that it not be removed or interfered with without the approval of an investigator; and
to seize and retain anything that the investigator or police officer reasonably suspects has been used in, or may constitute evidence of, an offence other than a prescribed offence, or issue a retention order in respect of such a thing requiring that it not be removed or interfered with without the approval of an investigator, if the investigator or police officer reasonably believes that it is necessary to do so in order to prevent its concealment, loss, mutilation or destruction or its use in committing such an offence.
In executing a warrant, the investigator or police officer may be assisted by such persons as the investigator or police officer considers necessary in the circumstances.
An investigator or police officer may require an occupier of a place or a person apparently in charge of a document or thing to give to an investigator or police officer, or a person assisting an investigator or police officer, such assistance as is reasonably required by the investigator or police officer for the effective execution of a warrant.
In searching a person under this section, the investigator or police officer—
may run his or her hands over the person's outer clothing; and
may require the person to remove a coat, jacket, hat or shoes the person is wearing, and may run his or her hands over the person's remaining outer clothing; and
if the investigator or police officer sees or detects any thing that he or she reasonably suspects is, or contains, evidence of a prescribed offence, may require the person to surrender that item for inspection; and
may use reasonable force to remove an item from a person if the person does not comply with a requirement to remove or surrender the item under paragraph (b) or (c); and
may inspect an item that a person has removed or surrendered, or that has been removed from a person; and
must conduct the search in a manner that affords, to the extent that the circumstances of the search permit, reasonable privacy to the person being searched; and
must conduct the search as quickly as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances of the search.
A search must be conducted by a person of the same sex as the person being searched unless it is not reasonable or practicable to do so in the circumstances of the search.
A warrant, if not executed at the expiration of 1 month from the date of its issue, then expires.
The
Supreme Court may make rules of court providing for the Chief
Justice to determine the judge to whom an application is to be made or otherwise regulating practice and procedure for the purposes of this section.
The provisions set out in Schedule
3 apply in relation to a warrant under this section.
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