Media Release – Bail Compliance Checks in NSW – Issues Paper

Tuesday, 21 May 2024

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission has today published Bail Compliance Checks in NSW - Issues Paper.

The Issues Paper considers the legal framework for conducting bail compliance checks in NSW along with police practices for conducting bail compliance checks.

The Commission is seeking public submissions to assist an evaluation of police practices for conducting bail compliance checks.

The Commission’s focus is on whether bail compliance checks ought to be conducted when there is no bail enforcement condition imposed by the court.

Bail compliance checks in these circumstances are a common practice for police in NSW.

Chief Commissioner Peter Johnson SC said of the Issues Paper:

“Each year, police in NSW conduct more than 100,000 bail compliance checks. They do this to monitor that bailed people are complying with their bail conditions.

“We are seeking public submissions about the framework for and practice of bail monitoring.

“We hope that these submissions will help us consider whether the legislative framework is sufficiently clear on how police can appropriately and lawfully conduct bail compliance checks.”

The call for submissions opened today and will close on 25 July 2024.

The issues paper can be found here and a fact sheet about the Commission’s issues paper can be found in this link.