Part III of the Search Act (Chapter 341) deals with places rather than people. Its first Division is the one that matters most in daily life, because it is where the law says a search may go ahead without a court warrant at all.
Vehicles: three separate powers
Stolen goods or offence items — section 5(1)
Where a policeman has reasonable grounds to believe that a vehicle, or anything in it:
- has been stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained; or
- has been used or is intended to be used in the commission of an indictable offence,
he may stop and search that vehicle, and where applicable seize under section 10(1).
Weapons — section 5(2)
Where a policeman believes on reasonable grounds that a person has, in a vehicle he is using at the time, a firearm or other offensive weapon, he may search the vehicle for that weapon and seize it under section 10(2).
Notice the narrowness: the search is for the firearm or offensive weapon. It is not a general search of the vehicle.
On arrest — section 5(3)
Where a policeman believes on reasonable grounds that it is necessary, he may, at the time of arresting a person, search any vehicle the arrested person was using at the time of arrest — for the single purpose of preventing the loss or destruction of evidence relating to the offence for which they were arrested.
Section 1 defines a vehicle as any description of vehicle on wheels or runners. That covers a car, a truck, a PMV, a motorbike, a trailer and a wheelbarrow alike.
Craft: safety searches — section 5(4)
Where the owner or the person in command of a craft, or a policeman, has reasonable grounds to suspect that a situation has arisen or is likely to arise involving the safety of the craft, that person or people they authorise may search:
- the craft; and
- any luggage and freight on board or about to be placed on board.
Seizure follows under section 10(4) — anything that constitutes or is capable of constituting a danger to the craft, or is capable of being used to threaten a person on board.
Buildings: the immediate pursuit power — section 5(5)
This is the only power in the Act to enter and search a building or place without a warrant, and its conditions are tight.
Where a policeman is in immediate pursuit of a person whom he believes on reasonable grounds to have committed an indictable offence, he — or people he authorises — may search any building or place in which he believes on reasonable grounds that the person pursued:
- is concealed; or
- has, in the course of the pursuit, concealed or deposited anything.
Immediate pursuit — not a follow-up visit hours later. An indictable offence — not any offence. And reasonable grounds to believe the person or the thing is in that building. Take away any one element and the power is not engaged, and the ordinary rule returns: a search of premises needs a warrant under section 6.
What a searcher may do once inside: section 9
Section 9 supplies the practical powers for searches under sections 5 and 6, and it also imposes a duty most people have never heard of.
For a place other than a baggage or freight container, the searcher and any assistants have power:
- to enter and be in that place for the duration of the search, using such force as is reasonably necessary;
- to interfere with the structure of the place for the purpose of search — but to the least extent necessary with the least amount of damage;
- to touch any article in that place; and
- to stop and search any person found in that place, in accordance with section 4.
Under section 9(1)(b), the searcher shall, within a reasonable period after the conclusion of the search, restore the place — or cause it to be restored — as nearly as possible to the same state of cleanliness and neatness that existed immediately before the search began.
The same duty applies to containers under section 9(2)(b). It is a statutory obligation, and a failure to perform it is a breach of a duty imposed by the Act, which section 17 makes actionable in damages.
Two qualifications. Under section 9(3), where a container cannot otherwise be searched, the searcher may destroy the container for the purpose of search. And under section 9(4), the section does not require restoration of the structure of a place or container that was interfered with under these powers — the restoration duty is about cleanliness and neatness, not rebuilding.
The shape of it
Without a warrant, the Act permits searches of vehicles (three grounds), craft and their luggage and freight (safety), and buildings only in immediate pursuit. Everything else about premises runs through a warrant.
Whether a warrantless search was lawful turns on facts — timing, the offence, and what the officer actually believed and why. Speak to a lawyer or the Office of the Public Solicitor.
Sources
- Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea — PacLII (sections 44 and 49)
- Kangual Kwialu v Dumop Dage (2016) N6270 — vLex
- PNG Consolidated Legislation — PacLII index
The Search Act (Chapter 341) is not carried in PacLII’s consolidated Acts database or on vLex at the time of writing. Kwialu is listed as an example of a constitutional claim arising from a police entry and search; read the judgment in full before relying on it.