Preserving Order with Legal Intent and Civic Excellence Act

Preamble

Whereas, the limited functions of investigative process are located in the Executive Act [2023], these are specifically for the SimDemocracy Bureau of Investigation, and merely assumed for all other internal investigative bodies, like the Office of Homeland Security, and the SimDemocracy Independent Oversight Authority. While the OHS is under the Attorney General, there is nothing saying that the SDIOA needs a warrant for any of its investigations, which is under the purview of the Senate.

Whereas, the ability to not serve warrants to legal entities beyond individuals is certainly an oversight,

Whereas, our investigators need more protections to obtain extensively obfuscated evidence,

THE SENATE OF SIM DEMOCRACY PROCLAIMS

Preserving Order with Legal Intent and Civic Excellence Act

Article 1 - Provisions

§1. This bill will be referred to as the P.O.L.I.C.E. bill within this bill and any other acts or bills that may modify it.

§2. This bill will come into effect one (1) week after it passes. Upon its passing, “this bill” and “P.O.L.I.C.E. bill” will be changed to “this act” and “P.O.L.I.C.E. act” respectively.

§3. The powers and restrictions found in this bill apply to any current or future internal investigative body of Sim Democracy.

§4. These powers and restrictions do not apply to any private investigative services.

Article 2 - Investigations

§1. Investigations may be initiated by:

§1.1. The President

§1.2. The Attorney General

§1.3. The leader of the relevant internal investigative body

§2. Investigations are to be conducted following the proper procedures.

Article 3 - Searches

§1. Any individual, group of individuals, business, legal entity, or government department may be issued a search warrant.

§2. Any internal investigative service does not need a warrant to obtain information that is obtainable without a warrant or information that is logged in message logs.

§3. For a search warrant to have legal repercussions for non-compliance, it must have been signed by a Judge or Justice before being issued to an individual, group of individuals, business, legal entity, or government department, and must have been informed of the warrant.

§3.1. A new document for the warrant must be created in the event a warrant is issued without a signature from a judge or justice, should an internal investigative body wish to enforce the warrant.

§4. Search warrants must contain what an internal investigative body is attempting to find.

§4.1. In the event other illegal activity is found during a search, it is admissible as evidence in a court of law, however to find more on this other illegal activity a new search warrant must be made.

Article 4 - Arrests

§1. Any individual, or group of individuals may be issued an arrest warrant if there is probable cause that they have committed a crime.

§2. Arrest warrants must be signed by a judge or justice before they are acted upon, unless a suspect poses a clear and present danger to themselves, another person, or the community at large.

§2.1. Anyone arrested is to be informed individually what they are charged with.

§2.2. In the event an arrest occurs without a warrant, the Department of Justice has twenty four (24) hours to press charges against a suspect, and to inform the suspect of said charges.

§2.2.1. In the event that the twenty four (24) hour period outlined in Article 3 §2.2. has passed, the suspect is to be released from their arrest, unless an arrest warrant has been granted against them.

Article 5 - Protections

§1. In the event an investigator is forced by another party to partake in illegal activity to obtain evidence, they may not be prosecuted for the illegal activity they were a participant of, unless the illegal activity is listed in the First Schedule of the Criminal Code.

§2. Undercover investigators may be authorised by the President to obtain an alternative account to perform an investigation or search.

§2.1. The names, other unique identifiers, and the investigative body these alternative accounts are under, are to be sent to the Secretary of Voter Registration and the Supervisor of Elections.

§2.1.1. Attempting to obtain a SimDem Unique Identification Token (SUIT) with an authorised alternative account under this bill is a violation of Article 36a of the Criminal Code, of which the Secretary of Voter Registration, the Supervisor of Elections and the head of the relevant investigative body is to be informed of this occurrence.

Section 1 – Consequential Amendments

§1. The Executive Act is amended by replacing Article 6, §4. to §9. with the following:

§4. The SDBI may conduct lawful investigations, searches, and the arrest of citizens, in accordance with the P.O.L.I.C.E Act. §5. The SDBI and any other official with the requisite permissions shall have the power to preliminarily ban individuals to remove them from the associated Discord server and to mitigate damage caused in times of civil unrest.

§5.1. Civil unrest shall include, but is not limited to mass spamming, mass pinging, Discord Terms of Service violations, and raiding.

§5.2. Actions taken under this section shall be amenable to judicial review by the Inferior Court.

§5.3. The power under this section shall only be considered exercised if it does not fall under a power granted by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2023.

§6. The SDBI shall have the power to delete images and messages that are deemed too extreme or inappropriate for the associated Discord server or relevant channel.

§7. The Director of the SDBI shall cause a channel named holding-cell to be set up and maintained in such a manner that only the staff of the Department of Justice, the President and Vice-President, arrested individuals, and any other person who is legally required to have access to the channel are able to view the channel, read its history, and send messages within it.

§7.1. Any attorney or person purporting to represent an arrested client, and having relevant business within the holding cell, may be granted access by the Director of the SDBI, with the consent of the Attorney-General, for up to 24 hours per entry.

§7.1.1. Relevant business shall include, but not be limited to:

The investigation of whether a client has been mistreated within the holding cell. The reviewing of messages sent by a client, if such messages are related to a case against their client. Any other business which the Director of the SDBI considers relevant.

§7.1.2. Any attorney or person purporting to represent an arrested client who is requesting access to the holding cell must make a declaration, under penalty of perjury defined in article 18 of the Criminal Code, that they do represent a client presently arrested, and shall also provide the username(s) and user ID(s) of clients they purport to represent.

§7.1.3. In this Subsection and §8.4, “Access” shall mean the ability of a member to view a channel, send messages within it, react to messages and read its history.

§7.2. Any denial of access under §8.2 shall be amenable to Judicial Review.

§7.3. The Director of the SDBI, with the consent of the Attorney-General, may also, in his discretion, provide access for any person to the holding cell.

§8. The Director of the SDBI may also create or designate certain channels for use by arrested persons, and allow such persons to visit the channel as may be necessary.

§9. Any person who has been arrested may be barred from accessing the holding cell established in §7, or any other channel which the person is able to access, on approval from a Judge, if they have committed a crime while arrested.

§9.1. The person’s access may be removed before a Judge approves such a request if the person continues to commit crimes after being told to stop. If a Judge denies such a request when a person has had their access removed, their access must be immediately restored.

§9.2. In this section, the word “Access” shall refer to the permissions to send messages, create threads and react to messages in the stated channels.