WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Guys quick question regarding search of digital media in particular. Can an officer search the contents of a camera, or laptop or whatever for the hell of it? And what about your vehicle? Obviously I'm guessing if there is reasonable grounds for searching a vehicle fair enough but your personal things like camera?

depends on time and cirumstance

if your standing at the beach with your di** hanging out and taking photos of children then yes .

it all comes down to reasonable suspicion.

and a lot of things can be considered reasonable

let say if it was @ night..and no pics were taken.. but see a camera and turns it on and starts looking at it? without asking what on this camera.

Time, place, circumstance.

Perhaps someone in the area was taking pictures of things they weren't supposed to. Perhaps the particular area you were in has a lot of burglaries - burgs that are scoped out prior to being hit. Perhaps a camera was stolen nearby and the officer was looking to verify ownership of the camera. Perhaps someone was sitting on the side of the road at night imitating a traffic camera and trying to piss people off, thereby causing a traffic hazard.

At the end of the day if you've only got personal pictures on there, who cares. No harm done. But if the officer pulled over the car in front who happened to also have a camera, on which was photos of children in funny poses... well, then you'd be thankful that the officer took the extra mile to check it out.
Most people don't drive around with cameras. Having a camera in your car _may_ give an officer the reasonable suspicion he/she needs to check it out to ensure you're not doing anything you're not supposed to.

You haven't said you didn't appreciate the officer's actions, just questioning his power to do so. Most officers don't take that extra step to look just for the chance it comes up with something.

Hope that helps?

To me, you asked two questions, what reason would they have to search your vehicle? and personal items?

In regards to personal items, i wouldnt be going through purses/laptops/cameras etc without a reason to do so, however, Police are allowed to if they have suspicion that it will help with an inquiry/investigation or if they have suspicion it is relavent to an offence. A good example would be the Julie Bishop civil disorder that happened not too long ago, i believe an officer was hit in the back of a head with a rock, obviously, an offence has been committed, and police would have the power to seize all cameras (even mobiles) to identify the person of interest.

hope this helps.

HM-106

herrgott wrote:Most people don't drive around with cameras. Having a camera in your car _may_ give an officer the reasonable suspicion he/she needs to check it out to ensure you're not doing anything you're not supposed to.

I would say a *lot* of people have some sort of camera in the car, be it there normal happy snap or there phone. Even some GPS's have cameras in them.

mmmm thank you.. this officer didnt gice reason to why he went thro my camera, second of all didnt give me reason why he seach my car and then said we putting your car rego and you name on runnning sheet im guessing. you would tho if ur acting weirdly they would gave me a move-on notice?

playworth wrote:mmmm thank you.. this officer didnt gice reason to why he went thro my camera, second of all didnt give me reason why he seach my car and then said we putting your car rego and you name on runnning sheet im guessing. you would tho if ur acting weirdly they would gave me a move-on notice?

Just out of curiousity what area were you in?

Ive had that done before during a random traffic stop in subiaco on hay street, they pulled 5 cars up in one hit checked rego sticker drivers license and write it down on what im guessing what a log or running sheet of some sort.

I believe there's a quota for certain districts.. and so many rbts/rego/license checks need to be done within a year.

playworth wrote:mmmm thank you.. this officer didnt gice reason to why he went thro my camera, second of all didnt give me reason why he seach my car and then said we putting your car rego and you name on runnning sheet im guessing. you would tho if ur acting weirdly they would gave me a move-on notice?

bit of cop chasing would give them reason too, dont you think so playworth???

JG-103 wrote:

playworth wrote:mmmm thank you.. this officer didnt gice reason to why he went thro my camera, second of all didnt give me reason why he seach my car and then said we putting your car rego and you name on runnning sheet im guessing. you would tho if ur acting weirdly they would gave me a move-on notice?

bit of cop chasing would give them reason too, dont you think so playworth???

sure would buddy, it was hilllarys NH102

playworth wrote:

JG-103 wrote:

playworth wrote:mmmm thank you.. this officer didnt gice reason to why he went thro my camera, second of all didnt give me reason why he seach my car and then said we putting your car rego and you name on runnning sheet im guessing. you would tho if ur acting weirdly they would gave me a move-on notice?

bit of cop chasing would give them reason too, dont you think so playworth???

sure would buddy, it was hilllarys NH102

You were lucky you weren't handed a complimentry work order for your car too..