NSW Police Given New Powers to Download Phone Data During Roadside Stops and Arrests

The New South Wales Police Force has been gifted extraordinary powers to rip the content of civilians’ phones when such devices are seized during arrests, roadside stops and other lawful detentions, if an “organised crime offence” is suspected. These powers, that are yet to be enacted, will permit officers to use an Israeli Cellebrite UFED device to download entire device content.

Passed on 25 September 2026, as part of the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Further Organised Crimes Reforms) Bill 2026, which contained the Minns government’s second tranche of organised crime laws. The reform involves an extension of the existing digital evidence access order (DEAO) regime, which allows phone ripping in conjunction with the execution of a search warrant.

“The reforms in this bill enable police to apply for a DEAO in relation to devices that are lawfully seized in the context of organised crime investigations where a search warrant or crime scene warrant had not been sought,” NSW police minister Yasmin Catley set out in her 6 August 2026 second reading speech on the bill.

“This supports timely police access to critical digital evidence in fast-moving organised crime investigations, where delays can risk loss, encryption or remote wiping of data.”

Civil liberties experts and crossbench politicians opposed the passing of the DEAO laws, as the removal of their linking to search warrants, opens this highly invasive process to a much wider range of circumstances, while the ripping of the entire content of mobile phones is considered an excessive breach of privacy and because of its broad application, this mechanism will be rife for officer abuse.

Indeed, the roll out of Cellebrite UFEDs (universal forensic extraction devices) to officers on the beat comes as concerns grow around organised crime, terrorism and social fragmentation. Yet, these highly invasive powers have too been passed, alongside a swag of other rights-eroding surveillance laws, which further accompany the rising capabilities of authorities to monitor the general public.

The expanding digital access order regime

The current DEAO regime was rolled out in October 2022 to provide NSW police with the ability to obtain such a capability when executing a search or crime scene warrant. The DEAO is active for a 10-day period, and it allows for the copying of data on a “computer”, which is defined as “an electronic device for storing, processing or transferring information” and that includes smartphones.

Under section 76AO of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW), or the LEPRA, if the subject of an order refuses to provide access, via unlocking a phone, it is an offence carrying 5 years prison. The maximum penalty applying to this criminal offence is now being hiked to 7 years. And this section also states that it overrides the common law right against self-incrimination.

The expanded DEAO regime will comprise of digital evidence access orders (warrant), which are orders that will operate as they currently do, and new digital evidence access orders (organised crime), which are the new orders available on the beat. The laws relating to DEAO (warrant) remain under part 5 division 4A of the LEPRA, while DEAO (organised crime) sits under new division 4B.

New section 76AT of the LEPRA will provide that officers may apply for a DEAO (organised crime) in relation to devices seized without a warrant. This can be done only in relation to an organised crime investigation. Officers have 14 days to apply for an order after device seizure. And application can be made in person, or via email or a phone, to “a judge of the NSW Local Court”.

Organised crime offences are set out under new section 76AS of the LEPRA and involve “a serious offence that is linked to organised crime”, which can include, but is not limited to, an offence committed by 2 or more people, or involves substantial planning, or systemic and continuing activity, or obtains power, profit or influence or is an act of retribution against a person or a group of people.

New section 76AY will contain an offence making it a crime for NSW police to provide the DEAO issuing officer with false or misleading information in order to obtain the order. This crime carries up to 2 years imprisonment and/or an $11,000 fine. This offence also mirrors the preexisting offence relating to misleading information in respect of a DEAO under section 76AG.

Reapplying for a DEAO related to a specific device that has been denied by an issuing officer cannot be sought again for a second time by the same police officer or by any other officer, under new section 76AZ, which is similar to the current law under section 76AH that prevents reapplying for a DEAO, after an initial application knock back, which will soon solely apply to a DEAO (warrant).

New section 76AB provides that in granting a DEAO (organised crime), an issuing officer must consider whether the phone was lawfully seized, if there are reasonable grounds to suspect evidence of an organised crime offence is on it, if there are grounds to suspect the device owner committed the crime or has knowledge of it, and if they have knowledge of the device and how to access it.

As for the effect of a DEAO (organised crime), these are set out in new section 76AZE and involve requiring the subject to provide information to access phone content, to provide further details to assist in the copying of data or the conversion of it into documentary form.

But an under 18-year-old DEAO subject must have an adult support person present before being required to provide access.

Similar laws mirroring the final measures relating to the new DEAO (organised crime) regime currently exist prior to the implementation of the reforms under the current regime, and these measures will specifically relate to the DEAO (warrant) regime, after the new laws take effect.

Ripping phones like the IDF

Cellebrite produces the UFEDs that NSW police use to rip phone content. Cellebrite is an Israeli digital forensics and intelligence company. The Israeli Defence Force, or IDF, utilises Cellebrite products. And Cellebrite products have been used by the IDF in the commission of the ongoing Gaza genocide.

The Israeli company explains that UFEDs have the ability to “extract both physical and logical data from mobile devices”, which includes the recovery of deleted data and encrypted messaging from apps like Signal and WhatsApp.

Sydney Criminal Lawyers understands that in terms of encrypted app messages in these types of apps, about the last five deleted texts can be sourced, as that is about the limit they store, while the actual downloading of the complete content of such a device takes about 4 hours.

A 2024 research paper by Indonesian academics explains that “Cellebrite UFED can pull data from call logs, texts, emails and social media”, and it can further “decrypt encrypted data, recover deleted files and extract data from multiple devices”. Cellebrite devices can further be used to break into locked devices on occasions and to get around internal passcodes.

“Techniques of memory dumping frequently find application for gathering both active and erased data from mobile telephones, aiming ultimately at the discovery of evidence artifacts,” the report sets out.

“The procedure to recover various forms of evidence, for instance, videos, from memory dumps necessitates an amalgamation of specialized apparatus and a profound comprehension of the foundational data structures.”

The Indonesian research also advises that Cellebrite UFEDs are unique in terms of their “advanced functionalities that allow for the circumvention of encryption, retrieval of passwords, and access to secured device”, as well as “for its capability to access not just conventional user-generated materials but also data residing within various applications”, including extraction from social media platforms.

Ripping phones on the beat

At the time a third tranche of organised crime measures were announced in early September 2026, the 52nd gangland killing this year in Greater Sydney had just taken place. Gangland violence around drugs and tobacco trade have spurred these laws. The third set of laws were then inserted into the second tranche Further Organised Crimes Reforms Bill and were passed with it last month.

The powers to use UFED on phones has been expanded for organised crime-related offences, and the examples originally given were offences relating to drugs or illicit tobacco, firebombings and public shootings. But as the organised crime offences include those organised by 2 or more people and those involving planning, these powers may end up being used in relation to protest activity.

“Under the Minns Labor government police have been given increased powers, the number of kids and young people in prison has increased at record rates, and more people are being arrested and incarcerated than ever before,” said NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson in a media release at the time the Cellebrite UFED expansion laws were before parliament.

“If we are investing $15 million to hack more phones and give police further access to messages, images, location markers and other sensitive information, we must also increase the independent oversight to safeguard against improper use of this invasive technology,” the Greens justice spokesperson continued.

“This announcement comes amidst increasing community concern about Cellebrite, the Israeli spyware firm run by ex-IDF soldiers who provide phone-hacking technology to police.”

Image of police officer from Shutterstock