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Parliament Bill

Parliamentary security - Powers and duties of parliamentary security officers - Process B: item Item handed over gives officer reasonable grounds to believe person may recently have committed, or be about to commit, specified offence

172B: Power to seize detected item connected to specified offence

You could also call this:

"When can a parliamentary security officer take something from you?"

If you hand over an item to a parliamentary security officer, they might think you have done something wrong or are about to do something wrong. This could happen if you do not give them a good reason for having the item. The officer can then take the item from you. The officer can also choose to stop you from entering the parliamentary precincts or remove you from the area. They can do this if they think you have done something wrong or are about to do something wrong. You can be stopped from entering or removed from the parliamentary precincts if the officer decides to do so.

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This page was last updated on 9 November 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1028292.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Police and safetyGovernment and voting > Government departments

172A: Powers if person does not hand over detected item, or

"What happens if you don't hand over something you're not allowed to have"

173: Power to ask persons to surrender detected item, or

"What happens if a security officer asks you to hand over a suspicious item"

Part 7Parliamentary security
Powers and duties of parliamentary security officers: Process B: item Item handed over gives officer reasonable grounds to believe person may recently have committed, or be about to commit, specified offence

172BPower to seize detected item connected to specified offence

This section applies if—
a person complies with a request under section 172(1) to hand over a detected item; and
the item handed over gives the parliamentary security officer reasonable grounds to believe that the person—
1. may recently have committed a specified offence; or
2. may be about to commit such an offence; and
the person does not give the officer a reasonable excuse for being in possession of the item.

The parliamentary security officer—
may exercise the power in section 176(1) (which relates to the power to seize an item) and, if the officer chooses to exercise that power, the power in section 176(2)(a) or (b) (which relates to the power to detain the person or to deny them entry to, or remove them from, the parliamentary precincts); or
may deny the person entry to, or remove the person from, the parliamentary precincts.