However I’d suspect the current version of the Crimes Act.

No, go right ahead.

That’s why I keep asking you (and others) to take a position on:

a. what you think are appropriate circumstances for the police to be allowed to search a car, and

b. whether you’re calling for the law to be changed to allow this or for the police to simply carry on ignoring the law.

So far you, gitmo and a few others have stated that you approve of the police searching a car in a (hypothetical) case such as the one discussed in the post.

No-one though has made a clear statement of whether they support the law being changed to allow the police to do so,

AND (perhaps more importantly)

no-one has made any effort to outline the parameters of such a law change.

I suspect that none of you want to put your hands up and call for an expansion of police powers but you’ve all expressed that expanded police powers are acceptable to you in this specific (hypothetical) case.

As you’ve taken that position the onus is on you to define what sort of law change you’re calling for – for example:

searching the house or car of anyone arrested for anything? searching the house or car of anyone suspected of anything?
searching the house and car of anyone questioned?

It’s not enough to say you want the law changed so Rocky’s car can be searched, but this is as far as any of you have been prepared to go so far.

(Unless of course you don’t want the law changed at all but would like the police to ignore it at will).

What Act prohibits police search for sentences under six months?

As for the Search and Surviellance Bill, there’s a reason it’s called a bill, not an act. It’s not law yet!

Rocky can point you to the relevant legislation, but it is probably in the current Crimes act.

Incidentally rocky has been making a study of the SS bill. If you want to know more, ask her. She will give you chapter and verse on the bits she thinks are good or bad in it.

You can have a quick look at the Act here- http://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2009/0045/latest/viewpdf.aspx?search=qs_all%40act%40bill%40regulation_search_resel&p=1

The fact that the trespass law carries a maximum sentence of 3 months is pretty stupid, if I found someone unlawfully on my property I would want their car searched, how do the police know that Rocky and her friends (who obviously can not be trusted) did not take anything from the farm?

MAF doesn’t have enough inspectors.
SPCA is a charity and doesn’t have the resources.
The NZ Police choose not to exercise their powers.

It is left up to the animal rights activists to go in, document, and kick some activity into action where they find abuses.

Why don’t you push to get a better animal handling regime in place?

Are you going to take a position? So far no one has articulated a coherent one but with your communications background you should have no trouble doing so.

If it makes it easier for you we could talk about a hypothetical scenario exactly like the one in the post.