What is the test for a search warrant and a tracking warrant?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Scott et al, 2009 BCPC 235 (CanLII):

In the case of the Search Warrant the test is higher than the reasonable suspicion required for the Tracking Warrant. Citizens have a right to privacy which may not be violated by the police on the basis of suspicion, even if that suspicion is a “reasonable” one. The police must have more than a reasonable suspicion. It was put this way in Hunter v. Southam, 1984 CanLII 33 (SCC), [1984] 2 S.C.R. 145 at p. 167: “The state’s interest in detecting and preventing crime begins to prevail over the individual’s interest in being left alone at the point where credibly based probability replaces suspicion.” [emphasis added]

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