At a press conference held in the wake of the murder of Janae Minors, 37, a mother of two, the Police Commissioner, Darrin Simons, was asked about the potential use of emergency powers.

He said: “[The Emergency Powers Act] has not been engaged. When we look at the total range of options that we could deploy, certainly that will be part of the discussion.

“I don’t think we are there at this point in time, when you look at other jurisdictions and the deployment of emergency powers. There are worse circumstances.”

But what does the Emergency Powers Act say? What does it allow? Do we need it? Jonathan Starling and Jeremy Deacon look at legislation that could give authorities sweeping powers.

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