GUARDIANSHIP ACT 1987 - SECT 12 Power of search and removal of persons

GUARDIANSHIP ACT 1987 - SECT 12

12 Power of search and removal of persons

(1) An employee or a member of the police force may apply to an authorised officer within the meaning of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 for the issue of a search warrant if the employee or member of the police force has reasonable grounds for believing that there is in any premises a person who appears to be a person in need of a guardian and who:

(a) is being unlawfully detained against his or her will, or

(b) is likely to suffer serious damage to his or her physical, emotional or mental health or well-being unless immediate action is taken.

(2) An authorised officer within the meaning of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 to whom such an application is made may, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for doing so, issue a search warrant authorising an employee or member of the police force named in the warrant:

(a) to enter any premises specified in the warrant,

(b) to search the premises for the person, and

(c) to remove the person from the premises.

(3) Division 4 of Part 5 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 applies to a search warrant issued under this section.

(4) Without limiting the generality of section 71 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 , a member of the police force or a medical practitioner, or both:

(a) may accompany an employee executing a search warrant issued under this section, and

(b) may take all reasonable steps to assist the employee in the exercise of the employee's functions under this section.

(5) An employee named in a search warrant, or a member of the police force, may, for the purpose of removing a person pursuant to the warrant, use all reasonable force.