What to Do If Police Come to Your Door in Queensland
Police Powers — 2026-08-12 — by Sacha Sarah Smith, Civic Law
You do not have to open your door to police. What matters is why they are there — because some reasons let them come in whether you agree or not.
Most of the calls I take about police at the door come in after the knock, not before it.
Someone has already stepped outside. Or let two officers into the kitchen. Or answered ten minutes of questions in a doorway while a phone was recording. None of that can be taken back.
So the useful thing to know is what the police can and cannot do at your front door, and what the first two minutes should look like. Their powers to come in are in the <em>Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000</em> (Qld) — the PPRA — and they turn on why the officers are there.
Do You Have To Open the Door?
No. There is no obligation to open your door to police.
You can talk through the door. You can step outside and pull it closed behind you. You can say you are not answering questions and go back inside.
What changes is whether they already have a power to come in without your agreement. If they do, the door being shut only means they may force it. If they do not, letting them in is the thing that gives them access — and once you agree, you have supplied what the law otherwise required them to justify.
Two questions are worth asking, calmly, before anything else. Why are you here. Do you have a warrant.
You are entitled to know who is standing there. An officer who searches a person, vehicle or place, seizes property, stops or detains someone, requires a name and address, or enters a place to make an inquiry or serve a document must tell you their name, rank and station as soon as reasonably practicable, and produce an identity card if not in uniform. That obligation is section 637. If the search is not being done under a warrant, they must also state the purpose of the search and the reason…
Can Police Walk Into Your Yard?
Yes, in most cases. Your yard and your house are treated differently.
Under section 19 of the PPRA an officer may enter a place and stay a reasonable time to look into or investigate a matter, or to serve a document on someone. Coming up the drive to knock is covered by that.
The limit is in section 19(5). Where the place contains a dwelling, the only part they may enter without your consent is the part that is not a dwelling. The yard, the carport, the shed. Not inside.
Only minimal force is allowed for that kind of entry, under section 19(6). How long they can stay is the time needed to ask questions of whoever is there and make a reasonable investigation or observation — that is section 20. Standing in your yard, they can look and ask. They cannot search the house.