[smh.com.au] NEW powers to secretly search homes and computers of
people suspected of crimes ranging from murder to organised theft are
wider than those now used against suspected terrorists.
The
new covert search warrants would give police up to three years to delay
informing targets they had carried out a raid on their property.
Standard
search warrants, routinely issued by magistrates in closed hearings,
require police to inform the target at the start of the raid.
Figures obtained by the Herald
show that last financial year lower courts issued about 6600 search
warrants to NSW police and other law enforcement agencies – an average
of 18 a day. Only about 300 applications were refused.
The
proposed covert laws became necessary after the Supreme Court found in
2007 that three covert searches on a children’s author suspected of
drug offences had been unlawful.
The Council for Civil
Liberties and the Law Society warned that the new laws could lead to an
abuse of police powers and restrict the rights of citizens.
But
the Premier, Nathan Rees, said: "If you are a serious criminal you
should be very anxious. We now will have the power to enter your home
without you knowing and collect evidence for subsequent prosecutions."
The
new powers are to cover indictable offences carrying a maximum
seven-year prison term and involving drugs, firearms or explosives,
money laundering and fraud, violence causing grievous bodily harm,
murder, destruction of property, organised theft, corruption,
kidnapping, sexual offences or computer crime.
The covert
search warrants would be approved by designated Supreme Court judges,
who must hold reasonable suspicions that evidence of the alleged
offence is at the home, or will be there within 10 days, and that it is
necessary to search without the resident knowing.
The new
laws would allow officers to impersonate another person while executing
the search warrant and "do anything that is reasonable" to conceal the
covert raid. However, the judges also have to consider the target’s
privacy.
The president of the Law Society, Joe Catanzariti,
said it opposed the concept of covert search warrants. "The requirement
for notice of an intended search is an important safeguard and in its
absence the potential for abuse is extreme.
"[It] seriously
undermines the balance between the state’s right to investigate and
prosecute crime and the rights of individuals to carry out their proper
business and lives without fear of intrusion by the state."
Stephen
Blanks, the secretary of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said
police had enough powers. "Police will be opening themselves up to
allegations that they have planted evidence or tampered with evidence
when they are conducting searches without any independent supervision,"
he said.
Powers granted for suspected terrorists were being extended, showing the need for a human rights bill, he argued.
The
Police Minister, Tony Kelly, said the NSW laws would grant police up to
seven days to examine data from computers, whereas federal laws, aimed
at terrorists, grant only 72 hours.
The proposed laws
provide for reports on covert search warrants to Parliament and the
Ombudsman. Mr Blanks also called for oversight by a public interest
monitor, as in Queensland.
The Police Association’s
vice-president, Sergeant Scott Weber, said the powers were "a much
needed tool … in the fight against organised crime".
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/national/latest-police-weapon-a-secret-search-20090304-8oky.html?page=-1
