Police Took My Property — How Do I Get It Back?

Property taken during a search does not disappear into a void. The Search Act (Chapter 341) records it, decides who holds it, limits how long it may be kept, and gives a court the power to say where it goes.

Start with the register: section 12

Where anything is seized by a policeman under the Act, or handed to one, he shall enter it in a permanent register of property, recording:

• a full description, including any identification marks;
• the time and date of seizure or receipt — and for things received, the name and address of the person who handed it over;
• the place and the person from whom it was seized; and
• other prescribed details.

Who legally holds it: section 13

Section 13 deems possession:

• seized by a policeman, or handed to one — deemed to be in the possession of the State;
• seized on a craft under section 10(4) by someone other than a policeman — the owner of the craft;
• seized by a non-policeman in the course of employment — their employer;
• seized by a non-policeman in any other case — that person.

This matters because it tells you who to write to. If a security guard took something in the course of employment, the employer is deemed to hold it.

How long it can be kept: section 13(4)

The thing may be retained for the purpose of examination and investigation. If a person is charged with an offence in relation to it, or in relation to which it is evidence, it may be retained until the charge and any subsequent proceedings on that charge have been determined.

But the subsection contains six words that are easy to miss: this is all “subject to any order to the contrary of a court”.

When proceedings end: section 14

Once proceedings relating to seized property, or in which it was used as evidence, have been determined, a court may order under section 14(3):

• that the property be delivered to the person appearing to the court to be entitled to it; or
• that it be otherwise disposed of as the court thinks fit.

“The person appearing to the court to be entitled to it” is not necessarily the person it was taken from. If the item was stolen, the owner is entitled, not the possessor.

Where someone is convicted of an offence relating to the property and an order is made, section 14(4) suspends that order until any appeal is determined, and section 14(5) allows the appeal court to annul or vary it.

Some things are never coming back. Section 14(2) allows a court, on the application of any person, to order that forgery equipment — forged notes, special or revenue paper, moulds, plates, counterfeit coin and coining tools whose possession is an offence — be forfeited, defaced or destroyed.

Property seized on a craft

Two provisions to be aware of. Under section 15(2), where a person seizes something on board a craft under section 10(4), they may throw it away, destroy it or otherwise deal with it so that the craft and the people on board are no longer endangered. Under section 11(2), the person in command may hand property seized on a journey to the law enforcement authority of the country where the offence will be tried.

Under section 15(1), a policeman who seizes something in a corrective institution under section 10(3) may hand it to a correctional officer at the institution.

Getting it back: the practical sequence

1. Write to the station asking for the section 12 register entry and a receipt.
2. Ask, in writing, whether anyone has been charged in relation to the property, and whether it is required as evidence.
3. Prove your entitlement — receipts, serial numbers, registration papers, photographs, warranty documents, witnesses.
4. If no charge has been laid and the investigation is not live, ask for return in writing and set a date for a reply.
5. If proceedings have ended, apply for an order under section 14(3) that the property be delivered to you.
6. If retention is unreasonable, take advice about asking the court for an order under the “subject to any order to the contrary” limb of section 13(4).
7. Keep every letter and note every date. Delay is the commonest complaint and the easiest thing to evidence.

If the property was damaged or never recorded

Section 17 makes a person liable in damages who exercises a power in breach of the Act, performs a duty in breach of it, or fails or refuses to perform a duty imposed by it — with exemplary damages available. Failing to record a seizure, failing to restore premises after a search under section 9, and damaging property beyond what section 9 permits all fall within that.

Section 53 of the Constitution protects against unjust deprivation of property, enforceable under section 57 with compensation under section 58. And a claim against the State needs written notice within six months under section 5 of the Claims By and Against the State Act 1996 — see the notice rules.