Jack’s Law in Queensland: when police can wand you and what happens next

What is Jack’s Law?

The wanding power is broad, but it is not an automatic power to search a person, empty their pockets or rummage through their bag. A metal alert, a failure to comply or other surrounding circumstances may, however, provide grounds for a separate search.

Jack’s Law is the name given to Part 3A of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld). Its stated purpose is to detect or deter offences involving the possession or use of a knife or other weapon.

The law is named in honour of Jack Beasley, who was 17 when he was fatally stabbed during a night out in Surfers Paradise in 2019. Jack’s parents, Brett and Belinda Beasley, subsequently campaigned for stronger measures directed at knife crime.

The current scheme is considerably broader than the original Gold Coast trial. There are now two main ways police can lawfully conduct wanding without a warrant:

• directly at specified types of places listed in the Act; and
• at another public place covered by a temporary hand-held scanner authority.

Where can police wand without a warrant?

Under section 39BA of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld), police may require a person to stop and submit to wanding in a public place at, in or on any of the following:

• licensed premises;
• a public transport station;
• a public transport vehicle;
• retail premises;
• a safe night precinct;
• a shopping centre;
• a sporting or entertainment venue; or
• a designated business and community precinct.

Police do not need a warrant or a separate area authorisation before using the power at one of these listed places. Police also don’t need to have “reasonable suspicion” about the individual person as a precondition to wanding at those places.

However, to be subject to the wanding power, the person must still be in a public place at, in or on the relevant location. There is no general power to enter private parts of premises merely because those premises fall within one of the listed categories.

The listed locations are defined broadly

Some of the listed places extend beyond the building or platform that people would ordinarily associate with them.

Licensed premises and retail premises

Licensed premises include an adjacent public area. Retail premises include premises used mainly for a business that sells goods or provides services to the public in person, together with an adjacent public area.

An adjacent public area includes:

• a public car park adjacent to the premises; and
• a public place next to an entrance or exit, such as a footpath where people are waiting to enter.

A person may therefore be wanded outside a venue or shop, not only after entering it.

Shopping centres

A shopping centre is broadly defined as a recognised cluster of at least five retail premises in one building, or in adjoining buildings or buildings separated only by a public place. The definition also includes an adjacent public area.

This can bring publicly accessible shopping centre car parks, entry areas and nearby public spaces within the scope of the wanding power.

Public transport stations

A public transport station includes more than the formal station building. It can include:

• railway and light rail stations;
• bus stations;
• bus stops and their immediate vicinity;
• ferry jetties and associated structures;
• passenger car parks and set-down areas;
• walkways and footpaths;
• passenger seating; and
• associated landscaping.

The definition is wide enough to cover many areas surrounding a station or bus stop where passengers wait, enter or leave. Public transport vehicles include trains, light rail vehicles, buses operating general route services and ferries operating general route services.

Sporting and entertainment venues

The power applies at major sports facilities and at other places while they are being used for a sporting, recreational, conference or entertainment event.

The Act gives examples including a community football facility, a building being used for a conference, a park being used for a concert and a road being used for a running or motor racing event. Adjacent public areas are also included.

Designated business and community precincts

A designated business and community precinct is an area formally prescribed under the legislation. At the date of this article, the Police Powers and Responsibilities Regulation 2026 prescribes a mapped precinct in Maryborough.

Prescribed precincts should be checked against the current regulation because they may change over time.

Can police conduct wanding somewhere else?

Yes.

A senior police officer can authorise wanding at another public place if the officer considers that using scanners there is likely to be effective in detecting or deterring an offence involving the possession or use of a knife or other weapon.

For these purposes, a senior police officer is:

• an officer of at least the rank of inspector; or
• a senior sergeant who has been authorised by the Police Commissioner to issue these authorities.

The authority must identify:

• when it starts and ends;
• the address, name or description of the place; and
• the reasons for issuing it.

The authority operates for 12 hours after it starts. While it is in force, police may require people at the stated public place to stop and submit to wanding without a warrant.

This mechanism can be used for a street, park, beach or another public area that does not fall within the permanent list. The public-place definition includes places the public can access as of right and public parts of premises while they are ordinarily open to the public.

The requirement for an authority relates to the location and operation. The legislation does not then require police to hold a separate reasonable suspicion about each individual selected for wanding.

What does wanding involve?

The Act defines the use of a hand-held scanner as passing the scanner in close proximity to:

• the person; or
• the person’s belongings.

Police may therefore scan a bag, backpack, jacket or other belongings carried by the person. Jack’s Law does not, by itself, authorise a general search of a private vehicle. A vehicle search requires some other lawful basis.

Police may require the person to stop and may detain them for as long as is reasonably necessary to complete the wanding procedure.

Once police have started exercising the wanding power, the person does not end the process simply by leaving the listed or authorised place. The Act expressly allows police to continue exercising the power in a public place after the person leaves the original location.

What happens if the wand detects metal?

A metal alert is not limited to knives. It may be caused by keys, a phone, jewellery, a belt buckle, work equipment or any number of ordinary objects.

If the scanner indicates that metal is or is likely to be present, police may require the person to:

• produce the thing that may be causing the alert; and
• submit to the scanner again.

This allows police to identify and eliminate innocent sources of the alert.

The power to require production of the likely object is different from a power allowing the officer to search through the person’s clothing or belongings themselves.

Does a metal alert give police an automatic power to search?

No.

The legislation expressly states that the Jack’s Law wanding power does not itself give police a power to search a person without a warrant. It also preserves the separate search powers police already have under other parts of the Act.

Under section 29 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld), police may search a person without a warrant if they reasonably suspect that one of the prescribed circumstances exists. Those circumstances include a reasonable suspicion that the person has a weapon, knife or explosive that they may not lawfully possess.

A scanner alert may contribute to reasonable suspicion, particularly if:

• the alert continues after ordinary metal objects have been produced;
• the person appears to be concealing something;
• part of a suspected weapon is visible;
• the person makes relevant admissions; or
• there is other information suggesting unlawful possession.

Whether an alert is enough to justify a search depends on all the circumstances. The scanner sounding does not, by itself, establish that the person has committed an offence.

What safeguards must police follow?

When exercising the Jack’s Law power, police must:

• use the power in the least invasive way practicable;
• detain the person only for as long as reasonably necessary;
• tell the person that they are required to allow the scanner to be used to determine whether they are carrying a knife or other weapon; and
• tell the person about the consequences of failing to comply.

If requested, the officer must give the person their name, rank and station. The person may also request that information in writing.

An officer who is not in uniform must produce their police identity card for inspection.

These requirements do not prevent police from asking questions. They regulate the compulsory wanding process and how it must be carried out.

Can you refuse to be wanded?

A person must comply with a lawful wanding requirement unless they have a reasonable excuse.

Failing to comply with a lawful police requirement can be prosecuted under section 791 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld). The maximum penalty is 40 penalty units.

There is also a more immediate consequence. A failure to comply with a requirement to stop and submit to wanding, to produce the likely source of a metal alert, or to submit to a further scan, is itself a prescribed circumstance for a search without a warrant. Police may therefore gain a separate search power as a result of the refusal.

If a person initially fails to comply with an oral requirement, police must, where practicable:

• warn the person that failing to comply without reasonable excuse is an offence;
• warn that the person may be arrested; and
• give the person another reasonable opportunity to comply.

Physically resisting or hindering an officer may also expose the person to an obstruction charge.

A person who believes the power is being used unlawfully can state that they do not consent, ask which power is being relied upon and avoid physical resistance. The legality of the operation can then be examined using body-worn camera footage, police records, the applicable authority and other evidence.

Do you have to answer questions?

Complying with wanding is not the same as agreeing to a police interview.

A person generally has a right to remain silent, subject to specific situations in which police can lawfully require information, such as a requirement to provide a correct name and address. Anything voluntarily said to police may later be used as evidence.

A person can comply with the physical wanding requirement without volunteering an explanation about:

• where they have been;
• what they are carrying;
• why they have a particular item;
• who owns it; or
• what they intended to do with it.

A practical response may be:

I will comply with the wanding requirement. I do not consent to any further search and do not wish to answer questions without legal advice.

Refusing consent does not prevent police from conducting a search if they have an independent legal power to do so. It requires police to rely on that power rather than treating the search as consensual.

There can be a practical tension where the object is a knife carried for a legitimate purpose. An immediate and verifiable explanation may prevent a charge, but an inaccurate, incomplete or poorly expressed answer can become evidence against the person.

The appropriate course depends on the circumstances.

What happens if police find a knife?

Finding a knife does not automatically establish an offence.

Under section 51 of the Weapons Act 1990 (Qld), it is an offence to physically possess a knife in a public place or school without a reasonable excuse. A reasonable excuse may include possession for lawful work, recreation, sport or another lawful purpose.

The circumstances remain important. Police and any later court may consider:

• the type of knife;
• where it was found;
• how it was being carried;
• the time and location;
• whether the stated purpose was current and genuine;
• whether other equipment supports that purpose; and
• whether the manner of possession would cause a reasonable person concern that someone may be threatened or harmed.

Carrying a knife for self-defence is expressly excluded as a reasonable excuse.

The maximum penalty for a first offence is 50 penalty units or 18 months imprisonment. For a second or later offence, it is 100 penalty units or two years imprisonment.

For a fuller explanation of the offence, lawful purposes, knives in cars and regulated knife types, see Knife laws in Queensland: the fundamentals. If the knife was carried for your job, see carrying a knife for work in Queensland.

Does Jack’s Law apply to children?

The wanding provisions apply to a “person” and contain no general exemption for children. Police can therefore require a child to stop and submit to wanding at a listed or authorised place.

Wanding is legally distinct from a personal search. If the interaction progresses to a search, separate safeguards may apply.

Where a child may not understand the purpose of a search, police must generally conduct the search in the presence of a support person. Police may proceed without a support person if they reasonably suspect that delay is likely to result in evidence being concealed or destroyed, or that an immediate search is necessary for someone’s safety.

Separate protections also apply when police question children about serious offences.

What if the wanding or search was unlawful?

An issue with the original wanding does not automatically cause a prosecution to disappear.

The legal consequences may depend on:

• whether the person was in a listed place;
• whether the area was a public place;
• whether an authority existed for another location;
• whether the authority covered the precise time and place;
• whether police remained within the stated boundaries;
• whether the officer complied with the statutory safeguards;
• what caused any metal alert;
• whether there were separate grounds for a search;
• whether anything was said or produced voluntarily; and
• whether police had another lawful power available.

The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld) preserves the court’s common-law discretion to exclude evidence or stay criminal proceedings in the interests of justice. Exclusion is discretionary rather than automatic.

A defence lawyer will usually obtain and review the relevant hand-held scanner authority, body-worn camera footage, police notebook entries, search records and any statements attributed to the accused.

Talk to a lawyer before you talk to anyone else

A wanding operation can move quickly from a routine scan to a search, seizure, arrest or police interview.

Being found with a knife does not necessarily establish an offence, particularly where there is a genuine work, recreational or other lawful purpose. The explanation given at the scene, the way the knife was stored and the legality of the police process can all affect what follows.

If you have been charged with possessing a knife or another weapon, obtain legal advice before participating in a recorded interview or providing a detailed account to police. Contact us or call 07 5522 5777.