25 November 2020
Tom Atkinson
[FYI request #13879 email]
REF: IR-01-20-29177
Dear Tom
I refer to your Official Information Act request of 30 September in which you asked about
warrantless searches.
1. You requested data about the number of warrantless searches undertaken and
the number of convictions resulting from warrantless searches. Police do not
record any information that links a charge or its subsequent outcome directly to a
warrantless search. However, we do capture information about the number of
warrantless searches conducted and the number of people charged in criminal
proceedings where the col ection of evidential material relevant to those
proceedings was significantly assisted by the exercise of a warrantless search
power. This information is made publicly available in the Police Annual Report,
where it was first reported in 2013 (fol owing the introduction of the Act in October
2012). You can find Police’s Annual Reports on our website. I have provided
below the reported numbers per year from those reports per your request. No
such information was recorded prior to the introduction of the Act in 2012. We
note with respect to the below data that we changed our recording practice in
2018/19 with the introduction of new functionality for our staff to capture this
information on their iPhones.
Financial Year to 30 June
Number of occasions warrantless
Number of people charged in
search powers were exercised
criminal proceedings where the
collection of evidential material
relevant to those proceedings
was significantly assisted by the
exercise of a warrantless search
power
2012/13 (from 1 October
6,167
3,324
2012)
2013/14
6,674
3,770
2014/15
7,048
3,866
2015/16
7,553
4,328
2016/17
7,203
4,686
2017/18
7,537
4,553
2018/19
10,855
3,698
2019/20*
22,607
5,207
Interim figures stil being finalised
2. You requested information about warrantless searches (and convictions resulting
from these searches) where the smell of cannabis was included as a reasonable
cause. Although circumstances regarding the use of warrantless search powers
form part of the information recorded by our staff when this occurs, these are
usually captured by way of ‘free text’ entered in an electronic form. There is no
quantitative record of specific causes, such as the suspected presence of
cannabis, that would al ow us to accurately answer this question, without
reviewing the information recorded for every one of the more than 75,000 total
searches represented in the data presented above. As such this part of your
request is refused pursuant to s18(f) of the Official Information Act 1982 as it
cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
3. You requested, for reference, the number of judge-signed warrants. The table
below provides the number of search warrant applications made by Police and
granted by the Court, based on the date granted.
Financial Year to 30 June
Search warrant applications granted
2012/13 (from 1 October 2012)
5,818
2013/14
7,974
2014/15
6,881
2015/16
6,501
2016/17
6,125
2017/18
6,199
2018/19
6,052
2019/20
6,478
If you are not satisfied with my response to your request, you have the right pursuant to
section 28(3) of the Official Information Act 1982 to complain to the Ombudsman and
seek a review of Police’s decision.
Yours sincerely
Kathryn Wilson
Manager: Strategy & Capability
National Criminal Investigations Group
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