Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Actssection 40
1. Definitions
In this Schedule:
"electronic metal detection device" means an electronic device that is capable of detecting the presence of metallic objects.
"frisk search" means:
(a) a search of a person conducted by quickly running the hands over the person's outer clothing or by passing an electronic metal detection device over or in close proximity to the person's outer clothing; and
(b) an examination of a thing worn or carried by the person that is conveniently and voluntarily removed by the person, including an examination conducted by passing an electronic metal detection device over or in close proximity to the thing.
"ordinary search" means a search of a person, or of things in the possession of a person, that may include:
(a) requiring the person to remove only his or her overcoat, coat or jacket or similar article of clothing and any gloves, shoes and hat; and
(b) an examination of those things.
"strip search" means a search of a person, or of things in the possession of a person, that may include:
(a) requiring the person to remove all of his or her clothes; and
(b) an examination of the person's body (but not of the person's body cavities) and of those clothes.
2. Frisk searches and ordinary searches
(1) A police officer who is authorised to search a person may carry out a frisk search or an ordinary search of the person for any purpose for which the search may be conducted.
(2) In conducting a frisk search, a police officer may, if the police officer has asked the person to remove a coat or jacket, treat the person's outer clothing as being the person's outer clothing after the coat or jacket has been removed.
3. Strip searches
A police officer who is authorised to search a person may conduct a strip search of the person:
(a) if the person is suspected of being the target of an authorisation; and
(b) if the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to conduct a strip search of the person for the purposes of the search and that the seriousness and urgency of the circumstances require the strip search to be carried out.
4. Preservation of privacy and dignity during search
(1) A police officer who searches a person must, as far as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, comply with this clause.
(2) The police officer must inform the person to be searched whether the person will be required to remove clothing during the search and why it is necessary to remove the clothing.
(3) The police officer must ask for the person's co-operation.
(4) The police officer must conduct the search:
(a) in a way that provides reasonable privacy for the person searched; and
(b) as quickly as is reasonably practicable.
(5) The police officer must conduct the least invasive kind of search practicable in the circumstances.
(6) The police officer must not search:
(a) the genital area of the person searched; or
(b) the breasts of a female or of a transgender person who identifies as a female,
unless the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to do so for the purposes of the search.
(7) Only a police officer of the same sex as the person to be searched or a person of the same sex under the direction of the police officer may conduct a search of the person.
(8) A search of a person is not to be carried out while the person is being questioned.
(9) If questioning has not been completed before a search is carried out, questioning is to be suspended while the search is carried out.
(10) A person is to be allowed to dress as soon as a search is finished.
(11) If clothing is seized because of the search, the police officer must ensure the person searched is left with or given reasonably appropriate clothing.
(12) In this clause:
"questioning of a person" includes carrying out an investigation in which the person participates.
"transgender person" means a person:
(a) who identifies as a member of the opposite sex, by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the opposite sex;
(b) who has identified as a member of the opposite sex by living as a member of the opposite sex; or
(c) who, being of indeterminate sex, identifies as a member of a particular sex by living as a member of that sex,
whether or not the person is a recognised transgender person, and includes a reference to a person who is thought of as a transgender person, whether or not the person is, or was, in fact a transgender person.
5. Rules for conduct of strip searches
(1) A police officer who strip searches a person must, as far as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances:
(a) conduct the strip search in a private area;
(b) ensure that the strip search is not conducted in the presence or view of a person who is of the opposite sex to the person being searched; and
(c) except as provided by this clause – ensure that the strip search is not conducted in the presence or view of a person whose presence is not necessary for the purposes of the search.
(2) A parent, guardian or personal representative of the person being searched may, if it is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, be present during a search if the person being searched has no objection to that person being present.
(3) A strip search of a child who is at least 10 years of age but under 18 years of age, or of a person who has impaired intellectual functioning, is, unless it is not reasonably practicable in the circumstances, to be conducted in the presence of:
(a) a parent or guardian of the person being searched; or
(b) if it is not acceptable to the child or person to comply with paragraph (a) – in the presence of another person (other than a police officer) who is capable of representing the interests of the child or person and who is, or appears to be, acceptable to the child or person.
(4) A strip search is not to involve a search of a person's body cavities or an examination of the body by touch.
(5) A strip search is not to involve the removal of more clothes than the person conducting the search believes on reasonable grounds to be reasonably necessary for the purposes of the search.
(6) A strip search is not to involve more visual inspection than the person conducting the search believes on reasonable grounds to be reasonably necessary for the purposes of the search.
(7) A strip search may be conducted in the presence of a medical practitioner of the opposite sex to the person searched if the person being searched has no objection to that person being present.
(8) This clause is in addition to the other requirements of this Act relating to searches.
(9) In this clause:
"impaired intellectual functioning" means:
(a) total or partial loss of a person's mental functions;
(b) a disorder or malfunction that results in a person learning differently from a person without the disorder or malfunction; or
(c) a disorder, illness or disease that:
(i) affects a person's thought processes, perceptions of reality, emotions or judgment; or
(ii) results in disturbed behaviour.
6. No strip searches of children under 10 years of age
A strip search is not to be conducted on a person who is under the age of 10 years.