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ARTICLE · 15 OCTOBER 2021

Can police search my car?

Opal Legal
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Just as police cannot randomly enter your home, police also cannot search your vehicle without lawful authority.

AustraliaCriminal Law

Just as police cannot randomly enter your home, police also cannot search your vehicle without lawful authority.

If police have lawfully obtained a search warrant, then they are permitted to search your car.

But what if police randomly stop your car whilst you are driving? Can they search your car?

The answer is no, unless they have reasonable grounds to carry out a search.

LEPRA

Section 36 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 ("LEPRA") sets out the powers of police to search vehicles without a warrant.

Section 36(1) of LEPRA allows a police officer to search a vehicle if he suspects on reasonable grounds that a specified circumstance exists. Those circumstances are:

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