New South Wales Consolidated Acts

STATE EMERGENCY AND RESCUE MANAGEMENT ACT 1989 - SECT 60L

60L Power of police to evacuate or to take other steps concerning persons

(1) A senior police officer may, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for doing so for the purpose of protecting persons from injury or death threatened by an actual or imminent emergency, direct, or authorise another police officer to direct, a person to do any or all of the following:

(a) to leave any particular premises and to move outside the danger area,

(b) to take any children or adults present in any particular premises who are in the person’s care and to move them outside the danger area,

(c) not to enter the danger area.

(1A) A senior police officer may, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for doing so for the purpose of protecting persons from chemical, biological or radiological contamination, direct or authorise another police officer to direct, a person who may have been subjected to such contamination to do any or all of the following:

(a) to remain in a particular area,

(b) to remain quarantined from other persons,

(c) to submit to decontamination procedures.

(2) If a person does not comply with a direction given under this section, a police officer may do all such things as are reasonably necessary to ensure compliance with it, using such force as is reasonably necessary in the circumstances.

(3) The regulations may limit the circumstances, and regulate the manner, in which the powers conferred by this section may be exercised.

(4) Neither this section nor section 6 of the Police Act 1990 imposes a duty on a police officer to use force to ensure compliance with a direction under this section.