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Search and Surveillance Act 2012

General provisions in relation to search, surveillance, and inspection powers - Procedures applying to seized or produced materials - Rights of owners and others in relation to things seized or produced

161: Disposal of forensic copies

You could also call this:

"What happens to computer copies used for investigations: deleting or keeping them safely"

If you make a copy of data from a computer or other device for forensic purposes, you must delete the copy if it does not contain any important evidence. You must destroy the copy in a way that means it cannot be retrieved. If the data does contain important evidence, but also other information that is not evidence, you can keep the whole copy. You can also continue to search the copy if you were allowed to do so when you first took the data.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2136874.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Police and safetyCrime and justice > Criminal lawRights and equality > Privacy
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160A: Disposal of weapons, or

"What happens to weapons the police take during a search"

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162: Other copies and generated material may be retained, or

"You can keep copies and recordings made during a search or surveillance."

Part 4General provisions in relation to search, surveillance, and inspection powers
Procedures applying to seized or produced materials: Rights of owners and others in relation to things seized or produced

161Disposal of forensic copies

  1. A person who makes a forensic copy of any data held in a computer system or other data storage device must, if he or she determines that the data does not contain any evidential material, ensure that the forensic copy and any copies made from that copy are deleted, erased, or otherwise destroyed in a way that prevents retrieval of the copy or copies by any method.

  2. However, if an examination of the data shows that it contains a mixture of data that is evidential material and data that is not evidential material,—

  3. the forensic copy of the data and any copies made of that copy may be retained in their entirety; and
    1. that forensic copy and any copies made of that copy may continue to be searched, if such a search was authorised by the search power under which the data was seized and copied.