Section 312CB — Crimes Act 1961: Matters on which Judge must be satisfied in respect of applications relating to serious violent offences

312CB Matters on which Judge must be satisfied in respect of applications relating to serious violent offences (1) On an application made in accordance with section 312CA, the Judge may grant an interception warrant if the Judge is satisfied that it would be in the best interests of the administration of justice to do so, and that— (a) There are reasonable grounds for believing that,— (i) A serious violent offence has been committed, or is being committed, or is about to be committed; and (ii) Where that serious violent offence has yet to be committed, the use of an interception device to intercept private communications is likely to prevent the commission of the offence; and (b) There are reasonable grounds for believing that,— (i) Evidence relevant to the investigation of the case will be obtained through the use of an interception device to intercept private communications; or (ii) Where the serious violent offence has yet to be committed, evidence relevant to the prevention of that offence will be obtained through the use of an interception device to intercept private communications; and (c) Whichever of the following is applicable: (i) Other investigative procedures and techniques have been tried but have failed to facilitate the successful conclusion of the Police investigation of the case or, as the case may be, to provide assistance in preventing the commission of a serious violent offence; or (ii) Other investigative procedures and techniques are unlikely to facilitate the successful conclusion of the Police investigation of the case or, as the case may be, prevent the commission of a serious violent offence, or are likely to be too dangerous to adopt in the particular case; or (iii) The case is so urgent that it would be impractical to carry out the Police investigation using only investigative procedures and techniques other than the interception of private communications; and (d) The private communications to be intercepted are not likely to be privileged in proceedings in a court of law by virtue of any of the provisions of Part 3 of the Evidence Amendment Act (No 2) 1980 or of any rule of law that confers privilege on communications of a professional character between a barrister or solicitor and a client. (2) Without limiting subsection (1) , in determining whether or not to issue an interception warrant under this section, the Judge must consider the extent to which the privacy of any person or persons would be likely to be interfered with by the interception, under the warrant, of private communications. Sections 312CA and 312CB were inserted, as from 1 February 1998, by section 11 Crimes Amendment Act (No 2) 1997 (1997 No 93). Section 312CB was amended, as from 1 October 2003, by section 22 Crimes Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 39) by substituting the words “ an interception device ” for the words “ a listening device ” wherever they appear.