Power to Search

We all know that there are laws that limit Police powers. Popular media, cop shows and the like have educated us all that they need a "warrent" to search your private property. And society has turned toward a paranoia that pits the law against unnamed threats to our safety and alongside many American cop shows that exhibit a kind of social pornography by showing us how cops shoot first and ask questions later, how cops will bust down doors and fire from helicopters. Our fears of unnamed threats are used against us.

Here (in New Zealand) we face an increasingly controlled society, but one that remains more free than its parent models (primarily the US and UK). The Police have succeeded in reducing road fatalities by more vigilant policing, and busting of drink drivers is achieved with highly intrusive methods, breath testing every driver at checkpoints with electronic sniffers. The public reluctantly accept there is no escape and so accept the intrusion as a sort of necessary evil.

Not so necessary as the intrusive pocket searches conducted every day, illegally, on the streets. If a police officer asks to search you, it pays to know your rights. So what are they? You have the right to not be illegally searched, unless there is just cause. If you look like a hippy, that does not give the police the right to search you for drugs. If you look like a muslim, the police can not search you for hidden bombs or weapons.

Is this right or should we accept intrusion into our lives if it prevents crime?