Summary

A person who was believed to be suicidal had disappeared from an adults housing for inidivudal´s under care pursuant to the Support and Service for Person with Certain Functional Impairments Act. The Police Authority searched through another person’s apartment as part of the general search of the surrounding area.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman states that a house search entailed a search of the premises that must be authorised by law.

Section 21 of the Police Act states that legal support for searching an individual’s home rests on the necessity to search for someone who has gone missing, if it is assumed that this person needs help. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, there were no indications that the missing person was located in the apartment in question and that the police asked the occupant of the apartment any questions about the missing person before a search was conducted. It appears that one did not consider whether the search was even necessary at all. The Parliamentary Ombudsman finds that according to the investigation there was no basis for the assessment that there was a need for a house search and that the purpose could not have been achieved in a less invasive way. This action was therefore not necessary pursuant to section 21 of the Police Act. Nor was there any other legal basis for the action.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman directs criticism towards the Police Authority for carrying out the search of the home and for shortcomings in the documentation.