SEARCHES Flashcards
LEPRA, Section 21 Power to search persons and seize and detain things without warrant
the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that any of the following circumstances exists:
(a) the person has in his or her possession or under his or her control anything stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained,
(b) the person has in his or her possession or under his or her control anything used or intended to be used in or in connection with the commission of a relevant offence,
(c) the person has in his or her possession or under his or her control in a public place a dangerous article that is being or was used in or in connection with the commission of a relevant offence,
(d) the person has in his or her possession or under his or her control, in contravention of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985, a prohibited plant or a prohibited drug.
Section 23 Power to search persons for dangerous implements without warrant in public places and schools
(1) A police officer may, without a warrant, stop, search and detain a person who is in a public place or a school, and anything in the possession of or under the control of the person, if the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the person has a dangerous implement unlawfully in the person’s possession or under the person’s control.
(2) To avoid doubt, if the person is in a school and is a student at the school, the police officer may also search the person’s locker at the school and examine any bag or other personal effect that is inside the locker.
(3) For the purposes of this section, the fact that a person is present in a location with a high incidence of violent crime may be taken into account in determining whether there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the person has a dangerous implement in the person’s possession or under the person’s control.
(4) In conducting a search of a student in a school under this section, a police officer must, if reasonably possible to do so, allow the student to nominate an adult who is on the school premises to be present during the search.
LEPRA, Section 27 Power to carry out search on arrest
the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that it is prudent to do so, in order to ascertain whether the person is carrying anything:
(a) that would present a danger to a person, or
(b) that could be used to assist a person to escape from lawful custody, or
(c) that is a thing with respect to which an offence has been committed, or
(d) that is a thing that will provide evidence of the commission of an offence, or
(e) that was used, or is intended to be used, in or in connection with the commission of an offence.
LEPRA, Section 30 Searches generally
In conducting the search of a person, a police officer may: (a) quickly run his or her hands over the person’s outer clothing, and
(b) require the person to remove his or her coat or jacket or similar article of clothing and any gloves, shoes, socks and hat (but not, except in the case of a strip search, all of the person’s clothes), and
(c) examine anything in the possession of the person, and (d) pass an electronic metal detection device over or in close proximity to the person’s outer clothing or anything removed from the person, and
(e) do any other thing authorised by this Act for the purposes of the search
LEPRA, Section 31 Strip searches
A police officer may carry out a strip search of a person if: (a) in the case where the search is carried out at a police station or other place of detention—the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the strip search is necessary for the purposes of the search, or
(b) in the case where the search is carried out in any other place—the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the strip search is necessary for the purposes of the search and that the seriousness and urgency of the circumstances make the strip search necessary.
LEPRA, Section 32 Preservation of privacy and dignity during search
(2) The police officer must inform the person to be searched of the following matters:
(a) whether the person will be required to remove clothing during the search,
(b) why it is necessary to remove the clothing.
(3) The police officer must ask for the person’s co- operation.
(4) The police officer must conduct the search:
(a) in a way that provides reasonable privacy for the person searched, and
(b) as quickly as is reasonably practicable.
(5) The police officer must conduct the least invasive kind of search practicable in the circumstances.
(6) The police officer must not search the genital area of the person searched, or in the case of female or a transgender person who identifies as a female, the person’s breasts unless the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to do so for the purposes of the search.
