South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts78—Person apprehended without warrant, how dealt with
(1) Subject to this
section, a person who is apprehended without warrant must be forthwith
delivered into the custody of the police officer in charge of
the nearest police station.
(2) Where a person is
apprehended, without warrant, on suspicion of having committed a
serious offence, a police officer may, for the purpose of investigating the
suspected offence—
(a)
detain that person, prior to delivering him or her into custody at the
nearest police station, for so long as may be necessary to complete the
investigation of the suspected offence, or for the prescribed period,
whichever is the lesser; and
(b) take
that person, or cause him or her to be taken, during the course of detention
under this subsection, to places connected with the suspected offence.
(3) Where a person has
been delivered into custody at a police station in pursuance of this section,
the person may, on the authorisation of a magistrate, be temporarily removed
from that custody to the custody of a police officer for a purpose related to
the investigation of an offence.
(4) An application to
a magistrate for an authorisation under this section may be made by telephone
and, where an application is so made, a written record must be made in the
prescribed form stating—
(a) the
grounds on which the application was made; and
(b)
whether the application was granted and, if so, the terms and conditions on
which it was granted,
and the record must be confirmed by the signature of the magistrate to whom
the application was made.
(5) Where it is
decided not to charge a person who is apprehended on suspicion of having
committed an offence, the police officer who is in charge of the investigation
of the suspected offence must ensure that the person is, if the person so
requires—
(a)
returned to the place of apprehension; or
(b)
delivered to another place that may be reasonably nominated by the person.
(6) In this
section—
"the nearest police station", in relation to a person apprehended without
warrant, means—
(a) the
police station nearest the place of apprehension at which facilities are
continuously available for the care and custody of the person apprehended; or
(b) in
the case of a person apprehended within a radius of 30 kilometres from the
General Post Office at Adelaide—
(i)
the police station at Adelaide known as the City Watch
House; or
(ii)
any other police station within that radius at which
facilities are continuously available for the care and custody of the person
apprehended;
"the prescribed period", in relation to the detention of a person apprehended
without warrant, means a period (calculated from the time of apprehension) of
four hours or such longer period (not exceeding eight hours) as may be
authorised by a magistrate, but in determining whether the prescribed period
has elapsed since apprehension—
(a) any
delays occasioned by arranging for a solicitor or other person to be present
during the investigation will not be taken into account; and
(b) the
time that would have been reasonably required to convey the person apprehended
from the place of apprehension to the nearest police station, assuming that
the person had been taken forthwith to that police station, will be subtracted
from the time that has actually elapsed from the time of apprehension;
"serious offence" means an indictable offence or an offence punishable by
imprisonment for two years or more.