Court Security Act, C-43.11

1 COURT SECURITY c C-43.11 The Court Security Act being Chapter C-43.11 of the Statutes of Saskatchewan, 2007 (effective September 15, 2007) as amended by the Statutes of Saskatchewan, 2012, c 8; 2023, c 7; and 2024, c 4. NOTE: This consolidation is not official and is subject to House amendments and Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel changes to Separate Chapters that may be incorporated up until the publication of the annual bound volume. Amendments have been incorporated for convenience of reference and the official Statutes and Regulations should be consulted for all purposes of interpretation and application of the law. In order to preserve the integrity of the official Statutes and Regulations, errors that may have appeared are reproduced in this consolidation. 2 c C-43.11 COURT SECURITY Table of Contents 1 Short title 8 Sheriff may use reasonable force 2 Interpretation 9 Judicial powers unaffected 3 Powers of sheriff 10 Judicial access to court facility unaffected 4 Designated restricted zones 11 Offences and penalties 5 Individuals authorized to enter restricted zones 12 Regulations 6 Screening 13 Coming into force 7 Weapons prohibited in court facilities 3 COURT SECURITY c C-43.11 CHAPTER C-43.11 An Act respecting Court Security Short title 1 This Act may be cited as The Court Security Act. Interpretation 2 In this Act: (a) “court” means: (i) the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan; (ii) the Court of King’s Bench; or (iii) the Court of Appeal; (b) “court facility” means any building in which a court sits regularly or is sitting on a temporary basis or, if a court sits or is sitting in a building and only a part of that building is being used by the court for its purposes, that part of the building; (b.1) “enforcement officer” means: (i) a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; (ii) a member of a police service as defined in The Police Act, 1990; or (iii) a member of the Provincial Protective Services as defined in The Provincial Protective Services Act; (c) “frisk search” means a search that includes touching the exterior part of an individual’s personal possessions, clothing and body; (d) Repealed. 2023, c 7, s 10. (e) “prescribed” means prescribed in the regulations; (f) “restricted zone” means a part of a court facility designated as a restricted zone pursuant to section 4; (g) “screen” means a search described in section 6; (h) “sheriff” means an individual appointed pursuant to section 3 of The Court Officials Act, 2012 to hold the office and perform the duties of a sheriff or deputy sheriff and includes an enforcement officer who is providing court security; (i) “weapon” means: (i) a firearm as defined in the Criminal Code (Canada); or (ii) anything else that could be used to: (A) cause death or serious bodily harm to an individual; or (B) threaten or intimidate an individual. 2007, c C-43.11, s 2; 2012, c 8, s 4; 2023, c 7, s 10; 2024, c 4, s 32. 4 c C-43.11 COURT SECURITY Powers of sheriff 3(1) A sheriff may do one or more of the following: (a) screen an individual before the individual enters a court facility or at any time while the individual is inside the court facility; (b) for the purposes of clause (a), require an individual inside a court facility to move to another place inside the court facility in order to be screened; (c) seize any weapon in the possession of an individual who is in, or is attempting to enter, a court facility if the individual is not authorized pursuant to section 7 to have the weapon; (d) evict an individual from a restricted zone if the individual is not authorized to enter that restricted zone. (2) In addition to his or her powers pursuant to subsection (1), a sheriff may refuse an individual entry to, or evict an individual from, a court facility if one or more of the following circumstances exist: (a) the individual refuses to be screened; (b) the individual refuses to comply with a direction of a sheriff made pursuant to clause (1)(b); (c) the individual is in possession of a weapon and refuses to comply with the sheriff’s request to relinquish the weapon to the sheriff; (d) the sheriff has reasonable grounds to believe that the individual: (i) is a threat to the safety of the court facility or to the safety of any of its occupants; (ii) may disrupt court proceedings; or (iii) may disrupt operations within the court facility. 2007, c C-43.11, s 3. Designated restricted zones 4 The following parts of a court facility are designated as restricted zones: (a) judges’ private chambers, offices, passageways, elevators, registries, libraries, storage areas and any other part used primarily by judges; (b) offices, storage areas and any other part used primarily by: (i) any member of the judicial staff or court registry staff; or (ii) sheriffs; (c) prisoner detention areas; (d) jury rooms; (e) any other prescribed area. 2007, c C-43.11, s 4. 5 COURT SECURITY c C-43.11 Individuals authorized to enter restricted zones 5(1) No individual may enter a restricted zone unless that individual is authorized to do so by this section. (2) The following individuals are authorized to enter a restricted zone: (a) a judge or other judicial officer; (b) a sheriff; (c) any member of the judicial staff or court registry staff; (d) an individual admitted to a restricted zone by an individual described in clause (a), (b) or (c); (e) any other prescribed individual or prescribed class of individuals. 2007, c C-43.11, s 5. Screening 6(1) A sheriff may screen an individual by doing one or more of the following: (a) holding a metal detector on or near the individual’s body; (b) requiring the individual to pass by or through a metal detector or an explosives detector; (c) using a fluoroscope to view the exterior and interior of: (i) clothing worn by the individual; and (ii) anything carried by or accompanying the individual including, but not limited to, a bag or briefcase; (d) subject to subsection (2), conducting a frisk search of the individual in a private area of the court facility; (e) requiring the individual to empty the contents of his or her pockets or to empty the contents of anything carried by or accompanying the individual including, but not limited to, a bag or briefcase, and examining the contents; (f) conducting any other prescribed act. (2) A frisk search of an individual pursuant to clause (1)(d) must be conducted by a sheriff of the same sex as the individual being screened. 2007, c C-43.11, s 6. Weapons prohibited in court facilities 7 No individual shall possess a weapon in a court facility except: (a) a sheriff; (b) an enforcement officer; (c) an employee who is responsible for the examination, inventory, storage, maintenance or transportation of court exhibits and evidence; or (d) a prescribed individual or a prescribed class of individuals. 2007, c C-43.11, s 7; 2023, c 7, s 10. 6 c C-43.11 COURT SECURITY Sheriff may use reasonable force 8 A sheriff may use reasonable force: (a) in refusing an individual entry to a court facility or a restricted zone; (b) in evicting an individual from a court facility or a restricted zone; or (c) in seizing a weapon from an individual who is in, or is attempting to enter, a court facility. 2007, c C-43.11, s 8. Judicial powers unaffected 9 Nothing in this Act limits or replaces the power of a judge or other judicial officer to control court proceedings. 2007, c C-43.11, s 9. Judicial access to court facility unaffected 10 Nothing in this Act affects any right of a judge or other judicial officer to have unimpeded access to any part of a court facility. 2007, c C-43.11, s 10. Offences and penalties 11(1) No person shall fail to comply with any provision of this Act or the regulations. (2) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction: (a) for a first offence, to a fine not exceeding $5,000, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both; or (b) for a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding $10,000, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both. 2007, c C-43.11, s 11. Regulations 12 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations: (a) defining, enlarging or restricting the meaning of any word or expression used in this Act but not defined in this Act; (b) for the purposes of clause 4(e), designating part of a court facility as a restricted zone; (c) prescribing individuals or classes of individuals who are authorized to enter a restricted zone and prescribing different restricted zones that different individuals or different classes of individuals may enter; (d) prescribing other ways in which a sheriff may screen an individual; 7 COURT SECURITY c C-43.11 (e) prescribing individuals or classes of individuals permitted to possess weapons in court facilities; (f) prescribing any matter or thing required or authorized by this Act to be prescribed in the regulations; (g) respecting any other matter or thing the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary to carry out the intent of this Act. 2007, c C-43.11, s 12. Coming into force 13 This Act comes into force on proclamation. 2007, c C-43.11, s 13. 8 c C-43.11 COURT SECURITY REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN Printed by the authority of THE KING’S PRINTER Copyright©2024