Searches Flashcards
(12 cards)
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LEPRA s 21
DRUP
**Power to search person for: **
- Stolen or unlawfully obtained
- Something used in relevant offence
- Dangerous article used in relevant offence
- Drug
DRUP (DANGEROUS ARTICLE, Relevant offence, Unlawfully Obtained, Prohibited Drug)
LEPRA s 23
** Power to search a person for a dangerous implement (includes knife) in public place/school**
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.
LEPRA s 27
Power to search a person on arrest (police vehicle/in the field)
(1) A police officer who arrests a person for an offence or under a warrant, or who is present at the arrest, may search the person at or after the time of arrest, if 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 of
LEPRA s 28A
**Power to search a person in custody after arrest (station)
**
(1) A police officer may search a person who is in lawful custody after arrest and seize and detain anything found on that search.
(2) Any such search may be carried out at a police station or other place of detention or immediately before or during transportation of the person to or from a police station or other place of detention.
LEPRA s 30
Searches generally (How to conduct a search)
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,
LEPRA s 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 s 32
LEPRA s 32 - Preservation of privacy and dignity during search (Safe Guard)
- Request co-operation
- Only search persons of the same sex
- Offer privacy wherever possible
- Conduct least invasive search for the circumstances
- Conduct search as quickly as possible
- Explain if any clothing needs to be removed & why
- Not perform questioning while searching is being conducted
LEPRA s 33
** Rules for conduct of strip searches
**
(1) A police officer who strip searches a person must, as far as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, comply with the following—
(a) the strip search must be conducted in a private area,
(b) the strip search must not be conducted in the presence or view of a person who is of the opposite sex to the person being searched,
(c) except as provided by this section, the strip search must not be conducted in the presence or view of a person whose presence is not necessary for the purposes of the search.
Lepra s 34
** No strip searches of children under 10 years**
A strip search must not be conducted on a person who is under the age of 10 years
Lepra s 36
Power to search vehicles and seize things without warrant
(1) A police officer may, without a warrant, stop, search and detain a vehicle if the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that any of the following circumstances exists—
(a) the vehicle contains, or a person in the vehicle has in his or her possession or under his or her control, anything stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained,
(b) the vehicle is being, or was, or may have been, used in or in connection with the commission of a relevant offence,
(c) the vehicle contains anything used or intended to be used in or in connection with the commission of a relevant offence,
(d) the vehicle is in a public place or school and contains a dangerous article that is being, or was, or may have been, used in or in connection with the commission of a relevant offence,
(e) the vehicle contains, or a person in the vehicle has in his or her possession or under his or her control, a prohibited plant or prohibited drug in contravention of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985,
(f) circumstances exist on or in the vicinity of a public place or school that are likely to give rise to a serious risk to public safety and that the exercise of the powers may lessen the risk.
What is a strip search?
Any search that goes beyond what is permitted by a person search, is a strip search
Strip searches may or may not involve the removal of clothing
HCCM
Whenever police exercise a power to search a person they must?
(HCCM)
H - Hold the state of mind required by LEPRA
C - Comply with the rules for searching in Section 32 & 33
C - Comply with the safeguard requirements in part 15
M - Make a contemporaneous record of the search
