What is the test for reasonable grounds for a search by the police?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Sipes, 2009 BCSC 612 (CanLII):

He explained that police searches bring into play two fundamental values in our society: the value of privacy and the value of effective crime detection. He said that what is critical to the balancing of these competing values is the existence of reasonable grounds. He referred at p. 549 to the oft-repeated words in Hunter v. Southam Inc., 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.

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