(1) An application under section 53CRmay be made by phone, fax, email, radio,
videoconferencing or another form of electronic communication if the discharge
officer reasonably considers it necessary because of—
(a) urgent
circumstances; or
(b) other special circumstances, including, for example,
the discharge officer’s remote location.
(2) The application—
(a) may not
be made before the discharge officer prepares the written application under
section 53CR(2) ; but
(b) may be made before the written application is
sworn.
(3) The magistrate may issue the warrant (the
"original warrant" ) only if the magistrate is satisfied—
(a) it was
necessary to make the application under subsection (1) ; and
(b) the way the
application was made under subsection (1) was appropriate.
(a) if there is a reasonably
practicable way of immediately giving a copy of the warrant to the discharge
officer, for example, by sending a copy by fax or email, the magistrate must
immediately give a copy of the warrant to the officer; or
(b) otherwise—
(i) the magistrate must tell the discharge officer the date and time the
warrant is issued and the other terms of the warrant; and
(ii) the discharge
officer must complete a form of warrant, including by writing on it—
(A) the
magistrate’s name; and
(B) the date and time the magistrate issued the
warrant; and
(C) the other terms of the warrant.
(5) The copy of the warrant
mentioned in subsection (4) (a) , or the form of warrant completed under
subsection (4) (b) (in either case the
"duplicate warrant" ), is a duplicate of, and as effectual as, the
original warrant.
(6) The discharge officer must, at the first reasonable
opportunity, send to the magistrate—
(a) the written application complying
with section 53CR(2) and (3) ; and
(b) if the discharge officer completed a
form of warrant under subsection (4) (b) —the completed form of warrant.
(7) The magistrate must keep the original warrant and, on receiving the
documents under subsection (6) —
"relevant magistrates court" , in relation to a magistrate, means the
Magistrates Court that the magistrate constitutes under the
Magistrates Act 1991.