New South Wales Consolidated Acts

COURT SECURITY ACT 2005 - SECT 13A

13A Power to require removal of face coverings

(1) A security officer may require a person who is wearing a face covering to remove the covering so as to enable the officer, or another security officer or person assisting in following the procedures set out in subsection (2), to see the person’s face if:

(a) the person is seeking to enter court premises, or

(b) the officer arrests, or has grounds for arresting, the person under this Act.

Note: Section 16 sets out the circumstances in which a security officer may arrest a person.

(2) A security officer who requires a person to remove a face covering under this section must, as far as is reasonably practicable, ensure that the following procedures are followed:

(a) the security officer must ask for the person’s co-operation,

(b) the viewing of the person’s face must be conducted:

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

(ii) as quickly as is reasonably practicable,

(c) the viewing of the face of a child under 12 years of age may only be conducted if a responsible person for the child is present during the viewing,

(d) if the person is 12 years old or older and requests it-the viewing of the person’s face is to be conducted by a security officer of the same sex as the person or, if a security officer of that sex is unavailable, by another person of that sex at the direction of a security officer,

(e) if the person is a child under 12 years old and the responsible person for the child requests it-the viewing of the child’s face is to be conducted by a female security officer or, if a female security officer is unavailable, by another female person at the direction of a security officer.

(3) If a security officer:

(a) makes a requirement of a person under subsection (1) (a) and the person fails immediately to comply with that requirement or to leave the court premises, or

(b) makes a requirement of a person under subsection (1) (b) and the person fails immediately to comply with that requirement,

the security officer may again make the requirement and, in that case, must:

(c) where the requirement being repeated was made under subsection (1) (a)-warn the person that a failure immediately to comply with the requirement or leave the court premises may be an offence, and

(d) where the requirement being repeated was made under subsection (1) (b)-warn the person that a failure immediately to comply with the requirement may be an offence, and

(e) provide the person with the information referred to in section 20 (2) (a)-(c).

(4) A security officer may not make a requirement in accordance with subsection (3) if the person establishes, to the officer’s satisfaction, that the person has a special justification for not removing the face covering.

Note: A special justification includes having a legitimate medical reason for not removing the face covering.

(5) If a security officer makes a requirement of a person in accordance with subsection (3), the person must immediately:

(a) comply with the requirement, or

(b) in the case of a requirement made of a person seeking to enter court premises-leave the court premises.

Maximum penalty (subsection (5)): 5 penalty units.

(6) It is sufficient compliance with a requirement made under this section if only so much of the face covering as prevents the person’s face from being seen is removed.

(7) This section does not limit any other power that a security officer may have under section 14 or any other provision of this Act.

(8) In this section:
"responsible person" for a child has the same meaning as it has in section 10.
"special justification" has the same meaning as it has in section 19B of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 .