It was an interesting exercise, asking some of the most senior lawmakers whose responsibility is it to sign off a search warrant, the type that was executed on my Wellington apartment a couple of days ago?

All of them had been involved in the new powers given to the authorities when they signed off on the Search and Surveillance Act that became law three years ago, essentially giving those administering the law more power the great unwashed.

The Justice Minister at the time was the formidable Judith Collins who declared the new law, which was part of a crackdown on would be terrorists, would bring order, certainty, clarity and consistency to messy, unclear and outdated search and surveillance laws.

The new law caused a stir because it allowed surveillance without a warrant for 24 hours with critics warning the media they should be worried about the affect it would have on the way they did business.

The search warrant presented to me on my doorstep this week was secured under that new law. It was issued through the Auckland District Court after the signatory was satisfied there were reasonable grounds to suspect that offences of forgery and obtaining a gun by deception had been satisfied.

The search was to find examples of my wife Heather du Plessis-Allan's hand writing, which the cops who carried it out hadn't thought of simply asking her for.

So who signed off the warrant, the lawmakers were asked? Every one of them, including the Ministers of Police and Justice, said a District Court Judge but they were all wrong.

The person who signed it off was by his own admission to me, little more than a court functionary.

Put yourself in his position though, the long arm of the law tells him offences are suspected. Without legal training, the likelihood is that he'd accept their word without question.

On this occasion he signed the warrant and the search was carried out and they left with just one document they found that contained the hand writing they were after.

It's the ease with which the police can get a warrant that should be of concern to all of us.

The search could have been avoided if the police had simply asked. As it was Heather thanked the hundreds who'd supported her with a simple message on Facebook - in her own hand writing!