New South Wales police officers are increasingly conducting illegal strip searches, a new report has found.
Under law, strip searches are only meant to be conducted as a last resort in serious circumstances, but experts say the invasive practice has become far more commonplace in recent years.
The Rethinking Strip Searches by NSW Police report, commissioned by Redfern Legal Centre (RLC), revealed the number of strip-searches conducted in NSW has increased almost 20-fold over the past 12 years, from 277 times in the 12 months to 30 November 2006, to 5483 in 2018.
It also found that police suspicion that a person possesses prohibited drugs accounts for 91 per cent of all recorded reasons as to why they conduct a strip search, yet only 30 per cent of such searches resulted in a criminal charge.
More than 80 per cent of these were for personal possession rather than intent to supply.
“The strip search means being stripped by total strangers, often forced to contort into unusual positions — to bend over to squat and cough — and so on, in circumstances and conditions which are almost inevitably going to be humiliating and intimidating,” report co-author Dr Michael Grewcock said.
“If they were being conducted in any other circumstance, if you take sensitive police powers out of the question, it would be … quite a serious assault.”
The report also found that unlawful strip searches were widespread. Young people — aged 25 and under — made up almost half of all recorded searches.
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Dr Vicki Sentas, the lead author of the report, said the law was failing to provide police with clear guidance on how to conduct a strip search respectfully.
“A strip search is the most invasive form of personal search available to police without a court order,” Dr Sentas said.
“Yet over the past decade we have seen the number of strip searches continue to rise. Our findings reveal such searches are doing little to tackle serious drug crime.
“NSW Police are able to record and release comprehensive data on the use of strip searches, and it is in the public interest that they do so immediately, as a first step to achieving greater transparency and guidance to protect the public.”
The report says the law needs to be clearer about what, when and how police should conduct a strip search.
It also recommends the rule that “police cannot search a person’s genitalia or breasts during any personal search unless police consider it necessary” be clarified.
RLC solicitor Samantha Lee said the rise in strip searches indicated the law was not being applied as it was intended - as a last resort.
“Strip searches … should be only used in exceptional circumstances when no other alternative is available,” Ms Lee said in a statement.
Report co-author Dr Michael Grewcock said the research suggested that police were using strip searches routinely “with little regard for the law and their own internal guidelines”.
“We need greater transparency and accountability regarding these practices,” Dr Grewcock said in a statement.
Greens MP and anti-drug dog campaigner David Shoebridge hit out at NSW Police over the data, telling news.com.au he put a series of questions to Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott, none of which received a direct answer.
“The NSW Police Force (NSWPF) may conduct strip searches from time to time as part of their day to day crime prevention and response operations,” a statement said, with a link to the NSW Police website.
Mr Shoebridge said the response was “arrogant” and “insulting”.
“These inadequate answers from the NSW Police are arrogant and insulting.
“Thousands of people are now being stopped each year by the NSW Police, people who are just trying to go about their daily lives. In many cases these searches are unlawful.
“The ‘just say no’ law and order approach is costly, ineffective and is diverting money from life saving harm minimisation measures.
“There should absolutely be accountability for this.”
In a statement to news.com.au, NSW Police said that, in 2018 alone, they detected a firearm and 93 knives or sharp-cutting instruments, as well as illicit drugs on 1553 occasions during field strip searches.
“Police officers do not enjoy carrying out strip searches, but it is a power that has been entrusted to us and searches reveal drugs and weapons,” a spokesperson for NSW Police said. “People who are trying to hide such items frequently secrete them in private places, and the only way to locate them is by a strip search, which may involve asking the person to squat.
“The use of drug-detection dogs in operational policing is a highly specialised field and NSWPF is committed to ensuring that our training is the best it can be and that the use of drug-detection dogs reflects world’s best practise. Police are trained not to rely solely on a drug-detection dog indication when they exercise their search powers.”
They said that over the last five years, in 85 per cent of searches and 82 per cent of strip searches following a drug-detection dog indication, either drugs were found on the person or the person admitted to recent use or possession.
“Field strip searches represent fewer than one per cent of the total number of all searches in NSW. Only about 20 per cent of strip searches are initiated following a drug-detection dog indication. The majority of person searches carried out by police are not strip searches.”
They added: “Training for police in how to undertake a person search occurs at the Police Academy and is reinforced in a number of forums throughout an officer’s career.”
