South Australian Consolidated Acts

LISTENING AND SURVEILLANCE DEVICES ACT 1972 - SECT 6A

6A—Warrant procedures in urgent circumstances

        (1)         An application for a warrant under section 6 may be made by facsimile or, if no facsimile facilities are readily available, by telephone, if, in the opinion of the applicant, the warrant is urgently required and there is not enough time to lodge a written application and appear before a judge.

        (2)         If an application for the issue of a warrant is made by facsimile, the following provisions apply:

            (a)         the application must state the applicant's name, the police force or body to which the applicant belongs and the applicant's rank or position in that force or body, the purpose for which the warrant is required, the grounds on which it is sought and the circumstances giving rise to the urgency of the application;

            (b)         the application must be accompanied (through facsimile transmission) by an affidavit made by the applicant verifying the facts referred to in the application;

            (c)         the applicant must be available to speak to the judge by telephone;

            (d)         the judge is entitled to assume, without further inquiry, that a person who identifies himself or herself as the applicant during a telephone conversation with the judge is indeed the applicant;

            (e)         the judge may, on being satisfied as to the circumstances of urgency and the grounds for the issue of a warrant, make out and sign a warrant;

            (f)         the warrant is to be taken to have been issued, and comes into force, when signed by the judge;

            (g)         the judge must forward the warrant to the applicant by facsimile transmission.

        (3)         If an application for a warrant is made by telephone, the following provisions apply:

            (a)         the applicant must inform the judge of the applicant's name, the police force or body to which the applicant belongs and the applicant's rank or position in that force or body and the judge, on receiving that information, is entitled to assume its accuracy without further inquiry;

            (b)         the applicant must inform the judge of the purpose for which the warrant is required, the grounds on which it is sought and the circumstances giving rise to the urgency of the application;

            (c)         the judge may, on being satisfied as to the circumstances of urgency and the grounds for the issue of the warrant, inform the applicant of the facts on which the judge relies as grounds for the issue of the warrant, and must not proceed to issue the warrant unless the applicant undertakes to make an affidavit verifying those facts;

            (d)         if the applicant gives such an undertaking, the judge may then make out and sign a warrant;

            (e)         the warrant is to be taken to have been issued, and comes into force, when signed by the judge;

            (f)         the judge must inform the applicant of the terms of the warrant;

            (g)         the applicant must fill out and sign a warrant form (the "duplicate warrant") that—

                  (i)         sets out the name of the judge who issued the original and the terms of the warrant; and

                  (ii)         complies with any other requirements prescribed by regulation;

            (h)         the applicant must, as soon as practicable after the issue of the warrant, forward to the judge an affidavit verifying the facts referred to in paragraph (c) and a copy of the duplicate warrant.