Manly Daily Article 28 November 2018_by McKenzie McLoughlin

Article in The Manly Daily – 28 November 2018

 

‘Tis the season to not be silly: or get cuffed’

IT’s the most wonderful time of the year, so to ensure your Christmas holidays are spent enjoying the festivities – and not police custody – please consider my helpful tips for the silly season.

 

When the party is rocking and the Christmas cheer is at epic proportions, it can be a difficult decision to call it a night. However, if you are perceived to be misbehaving, the police can take away all the stress involved and make the decision for you.

 

If you are too drunk in a public place, are disorderly or likely to cause injury or damage property, a police officer may issue you with a direction to leave the place and not return for a specified period of time of up to six hours.

 

You can be refused entry or turned out of a licenced premises if you are intoxicated, violent, quarrelsome or disorderly. If you don’t comply, try to re-enter, or remain within 50m of the premises you may be committing an offence.

 

Remember, reasonable force can be used to make you comply, and if you resist security or police, it’s likely you are committing a further criminal offence. The financial penalty alone that goes with it could be enough to ruin Christmas.

 

We recommend leaving the licensed premises if asked and finding another venue that’s far more festive. Alternatively, you could always move the party to home if you are finding that you are continually being refused entry.

 

Did you know that without your consent police can only search you if you are under arrest, or if they hold a “reasonable suspicion” that you have something illegal on you (e.g. drugs). This suspicion must have some factual basis to support it.

 

Police dogs are often used to further a suspicion. If someone is carrying drugs the dog will likely sit down when it detects a substance nearby. However, and Police would agree, it would be unwise for them to conduct a search on a person merely because the sniffer dog sits down.

 

So the next time a police dog sits down next to you don’t stress, unless you have a reason to. We also recommend that you don’t touch the dog.

 

Finally, we wouldn’t want anyone waking up and singing “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,” but if it is the case you somehow find yourself on Santa’s naughty list, contact us.

 

– Joshua McKenzie,

Director / Solicitor with McKenzie McLoughlin Lawyers