New South Wales Consolidated Acts

SHERIFF ACT 2005 - SECT 7B

7B Powers when executing certain arrest warrants

(1) A sheriff's officer executing an arrest warrant issued by a court under section 97 of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 may require a person named in the warrant to submit to a personal search if the officer believes on reasonable grounds that it is prudent to do so to ascertain whether the person is carrying anything that would present a danger to a person.

(2) Before requiring a person to submit to a personal search under this section, the sheriff's officer must show the person the arrest warrant and the officer's certificate of identification referred to in section 13.

(3) A sheriff's officer may seize and detain a thing found in a personal search under this section that the officer believes on reasonable grounds would present a danger to a person.

(4) A sheriff's officer who seizes any thing under subsection (3) must--

(a) if the officer is satisfied after examining the thing that its retention as evidence is not required and it is not a danger to a person--return the thing to the person from whom it was confiscated, or

(b) if the officer is not so satisfied--deliver the thing to a police officer as soon as is reasonably practicable.

(5) A personal search of a person conducted under this section must, as far as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, comply with the following requirements--

(a) the sheriff's officer must inform the person to be searched of the following matters--

(i) whether the person will be required to remove clothing during the search,

(ii) why it is necessary to remove the clothing,

(b) the sheriff's officer must ask for the person's co-operation,

(c) a personal search must be conducted--

(i) in a way that provides reasonable privacy for the person searched, and

(ii) as quickly as is reasonably practicable,

(d) the sheriff's officer must conduct the least invasive kind of search practicable in the circumstances,

(e) a personal search of a person must be conducted by a sheriff's officer of the same sex as the person or, if a sheriff's officer of that sex is unavailable, by another person of that sex at the direction of a sheriff's officer.

(6) If a sheriff's officer makes a requirement of a person under subsection (1) and the person fails immediately to comply with that requirement, the sheriff's officer may again make the requirement and, in that case, must warn the person that a failure immediately to comply with the requirement may be an offence.

(7) If a sheriff's officer makes a requirement of a person in accordance with subsection (6), the person must immediately comply with the requirement.

: Maximum penalty--5 penalty units.

(8) In this section--

"personal search" has the same meaning as in the Court Security Act 2005 .