Police will have new powers from Monday to search premises without a warrant but the man spearheading the measures says they do not allow officers to raid people's homes whenever they like.

According to Mark Crampton, implementation manager for the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act reforms, the new powers will benefit the Police but give added protection to the public too.

Attorney General and Minister of Justice Kim Wilson announced the move yesterday. It is the third out of four phases of PACE, a weighty piece of legislation passed by Parliament in December 2005 which brings sweeping changes to areas from searching suspects and their homes to identification parades and interview techniques.

Mr. Crampton, a former Chief Inspector with the British Police, stressed that the new powers only allow the Police to search addresses without a warrant from a judge or magistrate in certain circumstances. The first is if someone is arrested having just come out of the premises. In this case, the Police can search the premises that the person was in immediately before their arrest for evidence relating to that offence.

Officers can also take a suspect to the Police station after their arrest via a search of their home address without the need to obtain a warrant. However, this is only allowed if they've been detained for an offence known as an "arrestable offence" one that can attract a term of imprisonment of three months or more. It does not apply to people arrested on warrants.

Additionally, a Police Inspector can authorise a search of their home after they've arrived at the Police station, without an application having been made to the court.

Mr. Crampton explained: "When a person is arrested by Police, word gets around very quickly and friends and family of the accused sometimes use that time period to dispose of, or conceal, valuable evidence. This new power will enable the Police to search premises to get the very best possible chance of seizing vital evidence at the earliest possible stage, so this is a really useful power to assist the Police."

The same powers have been available to Police officers in the UK for 25 years, ever since the PACE Act was passed in 1984. Mr. Crampton acknowledged that their introduction in Bermuda might spark civil liberties concerns.

But he said: "There are a number of requirements that will have to be met. An application to search premises without a warrant once someone is in custody must be authorised by an Inspector and he may be required to substantiate that authority in court later. He must have reasonable grounds that officers will find evidence at that address.

"For example, if you arrest someone for shoplifting and they have two bottles of wine on them, you don't have any grounds to search their home address as all the evidence has been recovered at the time of arrest. If, however, this is a prolific shoplifter then there may be grounds to search their address for other stolen goods. You must have reasonable grounds. If you stop someone for carrying an offensive weapon or for assault, then there obviously wouldn't be any point in searching for further evidence at their home.

"These new powers will provide the Police with greater flexibility in their fight against crime. Officers have been fully trained and will be required to use these powers proportionately, appropriately and lawfully."

He added: "PACE has been brought together over the last six or seven years under three Attorney Generals and there's been a large degree of consultation both with the Police, the courts, the Chief Justice and magistrates, the defence barristers and with the Department of Public Prosecutions."

The Police will also be able to enter homes without a warrant in some other circumstances if the person inside is wanted for an arrestable offence but will not answer the door, or if Police believe that a person is wanted in connection with a court warrant arising from an arrestable offence or to save someone's life or property.

l More information about the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and the Codes of Practice is available on the Ministry of Justice section of the Government website at www.gov.bm.

OTHER NEW POLICE PROCEDURES THAT COME IN ON MONDAY:

JUSTIFYING REQUESTS FOR SEARCH WARRANTS: The Police will now be required to give detailed reasons for their grounds for asking for one. They will have to state their legal power to ask for the warrant such as under the Misuse of Drugs Act and give evidence on oath as to why they believe they will find evidence at the address, and what they will be looking for.

CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL: There will be an even stricter procedure to scrutinise Police requests to obtain personal and confidential material such as cell phone records, medical records and banking records, which will require a special type of warrant in future.

SEARCHES RELATING TO THE MOST SERIOUS OFFENCES: Another new type of warrant relates to the investigation of the most serious offences, known as "indictable offences". These are offences which can be dealt with by the Supreme Court.

Currently, the Police are only given the power to search one address on one occasion within one month. However, the new type of warrant will allow Police to search multiple addresses controlled by the same person on multiple occasions over the course of three months, without having to keep going back to court.