1Short title
This is the Criminal Investigation Act 2006.
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Bill homepageThis is the Criminal Investigation Act 2006.
This Act comes into operation on a day fixed by proclamation.
Different days may be fixed under subsection (1) for different provisions.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
area associated with a dwelling means —
if the dwelling is one of 2 or more dwellings in one building, the parts of the building and any area around the building that the occupiers of the dwellings use exclusively but in common with each other; or
otherwise, the area around the dwelling that is used exclusively by the occupier, such as a driveway, garden or yard;
arrest warrant means a warrant issued under another written law for the arrest of a person;
basic search of a person, means a search that complies with section 63;
disturb includes to damage, destroy, interfere with and remove;
DPP means the Director of Public Prosecutions appointed under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1991;
dwelling means a place or a part of a place that is ordinarily used for human habitation and it does not matter that it is from time to time uninhabited;
forensic examination, in relation to a thing, has a meaning affected by section 21;
forensic procedure has the meaning given to that term by section 73;
frisk search a person, means to quickly and methodically run the hands over the outside of the person’s clothing;
impression includes a cast;
mobile home means a vehicle —
that is ordinarily used for human habitation; and
that is permanently or semi‑permanently stationary in a single location;
occupier of a place, includes any person who appears to have the control or management of the place;
offence means any offence under a written law;
officer means a police officer or a public officer or both, as the case requires;
official details —
of a police officer — means the officer’s surname and rank and, if the officer’s official details are required to be stated on a document, the officer’s registered number;
of a public officer — means the officer’s full name and official title;
photograph includes a digital image and a moving visual record;
place means any land, building, structure, tent or mobile home or a part of any land, building, structure, tent or mobile home;
prescribed means prescribed by regulations made under this Act;
private parts, in relation to a person, means the person’s genital area, anal area and buttocks and, in the case of a female or person identifying as female, includes the person’s breasts;
protected forensic area means a protected forensic area established in accordance with section 46;
public officer means a person, other than a police officer, appointed under a written law to an office that is prescribed under section 9(1);
public open area means —
an area that is part of a road open to and used by the public; or
an area of land —
to which the public has access, whether on payment or not; and
on which there is no building, structure, tent or mobile home,
and it does not matter if the area is the whole or a part of a surveyed lot or of an unsurveyed piece of land, or, if the area is part of such a lot, there is a building, structure, tent or mobile home on some other part;
Example for this definition:
Under paragraph (b), an area of bush in a national park is a public open area but a building in the park is not.
public place includes —
a place to which the public, or any section of the public, has or is permitted to have access, whether on payment or not; and
a place to which the public has access with the express or implied approval of, or without interference from, the occupier of the place; and
a school, university or other place of education, other than a part of it to which neither students nor the public usually has access;
reasonably suspects has the meaning given by section 4;
record means any record of information, irrespective of how the information is recorded or stored or able to be recovered and includes —
any thing from which images, sounds or writings can be reproduced, with or without the aid of anything else; and
any thing on which information is recorded or stored, whether electronically, magnetically, mechanically or by some other means;
remote communication means any way of communicating at a distance including by telephone, fax, email and radio;
search warrant means a search warrant issued under Part 5 Division 3;
senior police officer means a police officer who is, or is acting as, an inspector or an officer of a rank more senior than an inspector;
statutory penalty for an offence, means the penalty specified by a written law for the offence;
strip search of a person, means a search that complies with section 64;
thing relevant to an offence has the meaning given to that term by section 5;
vehicle means —
any thing capable of transporting people or things by air, road, rail or water, irrespective of whether the thing is permanently or semi‑permanently stationary, other than a mobile home; or
a mobile home that is reasonably suspected not to be permanently or semi‑permanently stationary in a single location,
and it does not matter how the thing or mobile home is moved or propelled;
WA Police means the Police Force of Western Australia provided for by the Police Act 1892.
Examples in this Act are provided to assist understanding and do not form part of the Act.
[Section 3 amended: No. 21 of 2008 s. 656(2); No. 42 of 2009 s. 15; No. 9 of 2022 s. 424; No. 31 of 2024 s. 34.]
[Section 3. Modifications to be applied in order to give effect to Cross-border Justice Act 2008: section altered 1 Nov 2009. See endnote 1M.]
For the purposes of this Act, a person reasonably suspects something at a relevant time if he or she personally has grounds at the time for suspecting the thing and those grounds (even if they are subsequently found to be false or non‑existent), when judged objectively, are reasonable.
For the purposes of this Act, a thing is a thing relevant to an offence if it is reasonably suspected that —
the thing has been, is being, or is intended to be used for the purpose of committing an offence;
the thing has been obtained by the commission of an offence;
an offence has been, is being, or may be committed in respect of the thing;
the thing is or may afford —
evidence relevant to proving the commission of an offence or who committed an offence; or
evidence that tends to rebut an alibi.
For the purposes of this Act, a thing relevant to an offence may be material or non‑material, animate (other than human) or inanimate.
Example for this section:
The distance between 2 things or the visibility from a window are non material things.
The Courts and Tribunals (Electronic Processes Facilitation) Act 2013 Part 2 applies to this Act.
[Section 5A inserted: No. 34 of 2020 s. 56.]
Unless the contrary intention appears in this Act or another written law —
this Act does not affect the operation of any other written law; and
the powers conferred by this Act on a person are in addition to and do not derogate from any powers conferred on the person by any other written law.
Without limiting subsection (1)(a), this Act does not affect the operation of —
The Criminal Code, particularly Chapter XXVI of it; or
the Coroners Act 1996 section 32.
If a provision in this Act is inconsistent with a provision in another Act, the provision in the other Act prevails.
Subject to this section, a police officer has the powers, duties and responsibilities that a constable has under the common law.
If this Act confers a power, duty or responsibility on a police officer that the officer also has by reason of subsection (1), the power must be exercised and the duty or responsibility must be performed in accordance with this Act.
If there is an inconsistency between a provision of this Act and a power, duty or responsibility that a police officer has by reason of subsection (1), the provision of this Act prevails.
This Act is subject to the Criminal Appeals Act 2004 section 46C.
[Section 8A inserted: No. 9 of 2012 s. 7.]
Unless this Act provides otherwise, it does not affect any power that an officer may lawfully exercise in common with any other citizen.
For the purposes of this Act and in particular the definition of public officer in section 3(1), another Act or the regulations made under this Act may prescribe —
an office to which people are appointed under a written law for a public purpose and the functions of which are or include investigating or prosecuting offences; and
in respect of that office, some or all of the powers in this Act that a holder of that office may exercise, being powers that this Act expressly provides may be exercised by a public officer.
A public officer may only exercise a power in this Act in relation to an offence if —
this Act provides that the power may be exercised by a public officer; and
the office held by the public officer has been prescribed under subsection (1)(a); and
the power is one that the officer may exercise because it is prescribed under subsection (1)(b); and
the offence is one that the officer, by virtue of being such an officer, is authorised to investigate or prosecute.
If a public officer, under subsection (2), exercises a power in this Act, any enactment that protects the officer or the State from liability for the officer’s acts or omissions is to be taken to operate as if those acts and omissions included the officer’s acts and omissions when exercising the power.
If under this Act an officer is required to inform a person about any matter and the person is for any reason unable to understand or communicate in spoken English sufficiently, the officer must, if it is practicable to do so in the circumstances, use an interpreter or other qualified person or other means to inform the person about the matter.
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