Greenleaf, Graham --- "Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) - amended by Crimes (Amendment) Act 1993 (Vic)" [1995] PrivLawPRpr 9; (1995) 2(1) Privacy Law & Policy Reporter 12

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Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) - amended by Crimes (Amendment) Act 1993 (Vic)

Compulsory disclosure of personal information

The Bill is to amend the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) to empower police, under specified circumstances, to require persons to provide their name and address, to obtain fingerprints, and to conduct forensic procedures to obtain blood samples, both by consent and under compulsion. It also makes provision for the use and destruction of the information so obtained.

A new s 456A will empower police to require the name and address of a person who it is reasonably believed (a) has committed an indictable offence; or (b) may be able to assist in the investigation of an indictable offence.

Comment

This Bill sets out specific statutory purposes for which name and address, fingerprint and blood sample information may be used. There can be little doubt that this information, where obtained compulsorily by police in the course of criminal investigations, would be regarded as obtained under circumstances of confidence according to the principles set out by the High Court in Johns v ASC (discussed elsewhere in this issue). The scope of the express and implied permissible uses of such information will require reconsideration in light of that case, particularly in relation to its use for the investigation and prosecution of offences unrelated to the offence in relation to which the information was originally obtained.

Graham Greenleaf