Queensland Consolidated Acts

POLICE POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES ACT 2000 - SECT 536

536 Evidentiary provision

(1) A certificate signed by the commissioner and stating any of the following is evidence of what it states—

(a) on a stated day and at a stated time a stated police officer authorised the performance of a stated forensic procedure on a stated person;

(b) on a stated day and at a stated time a stated police officer or a stated watch-house officer used a stated device to generate a digital image of a fingerprint, footprint or palm print from a stated person;

(c) a stated police officer was on a stated day an authorised examiner;

(d) a stated person was on a stated day a DNA sampler;

(e) how a stated thing taken from a stated person as the result of the performance of a stated forensic procedure was handled and stored;

(f) a stated person took or sent a stated thing taken as the result of the performance of a forensic procedure from a stated place to another stated place;

(g) a stated person received a stated thing taken as the result of the performance of a forensic procedure at a stated place;

(h) a certificate given under the Evidence Act 1977 , section 95A relates to a stated DNA sample taken from a stated person.

Note for subsection (1)(b)—

See section 650 for the power of a watch-house officer to take a person’s identifying particulars.

(2) If, in a criminal proceeding, the prosecuting authority intends to rely on the certificate, it must at least 20 business days before the hearing day, give a copy of the certificate to the defendant or the defendant’s lawyer.

(3) If the defendant intends to challenge a matter stated in the certificate, the defendant must, at least 15 business days before the hearing day, give the prosecuting authority notice, in the approved form, of the matter to be challenged.

(4) If the defendant acts under subsection (3) , the certificate stops being evidence of the matter to be challenged.

(5) In this section—

"hearing day" means the day the hearing of the criminal proceeding starts.

"prosecuting authority" means the entity responsible for prosecuting the criminal proceeding.