Western Australian Numbered Acts

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION ACT 2006 (NO. 58 OF 2006) - SECT 9

9 .         Public officers may be authorised to exercise powers

        (1)         For the purposes of this Act and in particular the definition of “public officer” in section 3(1), another Act or the regulations made under this Act may prescribe —

            (a)         an office to which people are appointed under a written law for a public purpose and the functions of which are or include investigating or prosecuting offences; and

            (b)         in respect of that office, some or all of the powers in this Act that a holder of that office may exercise, being powers that this Act expressly provides may be exercised by a public officer.

        (2)         A public officer may only exercise a power in this Act in relation to an offence if —

            (a)         this Act provides that the power may be exercised by a public officer;

            (b)         the office held by the public officer has been prescribed under subsection (1)(a);

            (c)         the power is one that the officer may exercise because it is prescribed under subsection (1)(b); and

            (d)         the offence is one that the officer, by virtue of being such an officer, is authorised to investigate or prosecute.

        (3)         If a public officer, under subsection (2), exercises a power in this Act, any enactment that protects the officer or the State from liability for the officer’s acts or omissions is to be taken to operate as if those acts and omissions included the officer’s acts and omissions when exercising the power.