06 October 2020
Proposals to reform the ‘unnecessarily complex, inconsistent, outdated and inefficient’ law of search warrants have been set out by the Law Commission
The Commission believes its proposals would reduce the number of unlawful search warrants issued as well as improving evidence collection.
About 40,000 search warrants are issued each year in England and Wales. However, a 2016 National Crime Agency review found defective warrants in 78% of investigations. It can take three weeks to obtain a search warrant and they sometimes lack powers to seize electronic evidence.
The Commission recommends extending the availability of multiple entry warrants, increasing access to data held in the cloud, improving the application procedure and increasing safeguards for those being investigated.
Professor Penney Lewis, Criminal Law Commissioner, said: ‘The law is not currently working as well as it should.’
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