CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

TECHNIQUES
TOPIC 6 : SEARCH
MS. MEENALOSHINEE MOGANATHAS
LLB (HONS), UNITED KINGDOM, CLP, LLM
LEARNING OUTCOME

1 2 3
Students will be able to Students will be able to Students will be able to
explain the Search and explain Search Warrant - explain Patterns and
Seizure without Warrant Sec 57 CPC Techniques of Search
Procedure - Sec 116 A
CPC
 Search and Seizure without
Warrant - Sec 116 A CPC

LECTURE
Search Warrant - Sec 57 CPC
OVERVIEW

Patterns and Techniques of

Search
SEARCH FOR PREMISES

 Legally, police cannot enter a house to conduct a search without warrant.

 To search a house legally, the police has to obtain search warrant from magistrate.
 Magistrate must be convinced that search is needed for investigation to progress.
 Search warrants, for items or missing persons
 SITUATION WHERE WARRANTS ARE
NEEDED

 To save a kidnapped person

• S.58 of Criminal Procedure Code:
• If any Magistrate has reason to believe that any person is confined under such circumstances that the
confinement amounts to an offence he may issue a search warrant.
 Failure to produce item requested by Police
• If police issue summons for surrender of item or documents.
• If you don't comply, or if the judge believes you won't comply with the summons, a warrant may be issued
under Section 54(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code:
"[Where] any Court has reason to believe that a person to whom a summons ... has been or might have
been addressed will not or would not produce the property or document as required by the requisition;"
SITUATION WHERE WARRANTS ARE
NEEDED

 Search for possible evidence

• Police did not issue summon, but suspects that there are evidence in your property.
• Section 56 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that the judge may issue a warrant if he has reason to believe that
an offence has been committed OR there may be evidence in your house that can assist the police with investigations

 Search for Person to be Arrested.

• Section 16(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code:
• “If any person under a warrant of arrest or any police officer or penghulu having authority to arrest has reason to
believe that any person to be arrested has entered into or is within any place the person residing in or in charge of the
place shall, on demand of the person so acting or the police officer or penghulu, allow him free ingress to the place and
afford all reasonable facilities for a search in it”
SITUATION WHERE WARRANTS ARE
NEEDED

• Police or Penghulu Kampung.

• believes that a person to be arrested is in a house, they may obtain a warrant of arrest from a judge.
• can ONLY search for the person to be arrested,and cannot go searching for something else .
SEARCH OF PREMISES WITHOUT
WARRANT

 Section 116A of the Criminal Procedure Code allows the police to enter without a warrant.
• mainly for national security concerns (such as SOSMA offences) and organized crime (such as gangsterism, triads, and mafia-
type offences)
• Delay of search may give time for evidence to be destroyed.
• Only officer ranked inspector and above may enter and conduct search.
 Section 62 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Again, an officer with the rank of Inspector or above may only
conduct the search if:
• He received information that a particular item has been stolen
• He suspects that item is being hidden
• He has good grounds to believe that delaying by getting a warrant may result in the item going missing.
• In these situations, the police must have a written list of the allegedly stolen items and must be accompanied by the victim of
the theft.
SEARCH OF PERSON

 Section 20 of the Criminal Procedure Code (“CPC”), the police are allowed to search you
if you have been arrested.
 Section 15(1) CPC: “In making an arrest the police officer or other person making the
same shall actually touch or confine the body of the person to be arrested…”
 If you are just in a place which is being searched under a police warrant, you can be
searched as well if the police think that the thing they are looking for is hidden on your
body. Section 17 allows the police to lawfully detain you until the search is completed.
 Details of body search in 4 Schedule CPC.
th
BODY SEARCH UNDER FOURTH
SCHEDULE CPC

 Under Part 1, search may be conducted with any of the following objectives:
• To obtain evidence of the offence that you were arrested for
• To seize contraband or things used in relation for the offence that you were arrested for
• To discover/preserve/prevent disposal of any such evidence
 Part 2 of the Fourth Schedule also lays down the general guideline to conduct search
• the officer must have utmost respect for your dignity.
• religious and cultural sensitivities and any disabilities you may have.
• Section 19(2) CPC Female body search must be conducted by another woman.
TYPES OF BODY SEARCH

 PAT DOWN SEARCH

 STRIP SEARCH
 INTIMATE SEARCH
 INTRUSIVE SEARCH
PAT DOWN SEARCH

 Police runs his hands quickly over your clothes.

 The police officer is not allowed to touch your genital but he may run his hands over your
buttocks and under your chest.
 The police officer must start off the search by asking you to declare if you have any
unlawful/harmful item on you
 The police officer must ask you to turn out your pockets and empty them
STRIP SEARCH

 Removal of clothes during search process.

 cannot be completely naked at any time of the search.
 Must be authorized by Inspector or above, and if conducted by any other enforcement agency, by someone in
the rank equivalent to Inspector and above.
 The search must be conducted in a private room with no recording devices and only you and the two officers
are allowed in the room
 All the clothes removed must be thoroughly inspected in your full view
 Allowed to search your ears, nasal passage, and mouth
 If you are a female, you can be asked to lift and separate your breasts for inspection, if you are obese, you may
be asked to lift your skin for inspection
 Minimal contact with genitals/intimate part
INTIMATE SEARCH

 Search of body orifices(other than the mouth, nose, and ears).

 Includes genital cavities.
 not being completely naked applies
 Authorized by police officer Assistant Superintendent of Police or above
 squat and cough procedure. Squat over a mirror and cough deeply not more than 10
times. No external intervention allowed.
 If unable to squat because of pregnancy or health reasons, it need not be
INTRUSIVE SEARCH

 to examine body to for anything hidden inside your body or in any of your orifices.
 Unlike the intimate search, an intrusive search allows for the removal of the item in the
body.
 Authorisation must be given by the officer in charge of a Police District(OCPD/KPD) or his
equivalent in any other enforcement agencies.
 Search conducted by a Government Medical Officer or a Medical Officer.
 Done in hospital and during the search, you will be accompanied by a police officer of the
same gender who will take any object which is recovered from your body.
SEARCH OF VEHICLES

 Section 24(1)(b) of the Police Act 1984:

• “Any police officer may—
• …stop and search without warrant any vehicle or vessel which he has reasonable grounds
for suspecting is being used in the commission of any offence against any law in force…”
 In a normal situation the PDRM can only ask you for your “name and address”.
 However, if you’re car is being searched in the course of criminal investigation, police
may ask you questions and take down statements. In such situations, Section 112 of the
Criminal Procedure Code says that you must answer all the questions the PDRM asks you
–unless your answer may expose you to a criminal offence.
SEARCH OF HANDPHONES

 PDRM can now only check phones belonging to suspects and individuals involved in
ongoing investigations
 The PDRM will not search/confiscate handphones from the public, unless they’re
suspects or those involved in an ongoing case/investigation
Thank you. Any questions?