https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-felt-completely-helpless-woman-s-strip-search-revives-trauma-of-sexual-assault-20190530-p51svp.html?fbclid=IwAR05EXCtsVMvVo9Wh1VrMlwvecSXCSXvW1UqffYHLXVdCfOgOS4oYo0_4zU
June 4, 2019 — 12.00am
A Sydney woman says a police strip search at a Homebush music festival in 2018 forced her to relive a sexual assault that occurred just over a year earlier.
The woman, 20, has spoken of her ordeal as prominent legal figures raise fears that the increasing use of strip searches could trigger trauma in victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, while NSW Police data reveals children as young as 10 are being subjected to the "harmful" practice.
The woman, 20, was strip searched by police just over a year after she was sexually assaulted.CREDIT:CHRISTOPHER PEARCE
"I had to be stripped naked and I felt completely helpless, and I was scared," said the woman, whose ticket to the Midnight Mafia event on May 5 last year was confiscated by police despite nothing illegal being found.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the experience of being "cornered" in a booth with two police officers "was a refresher" of her sexual assault, which she said was perpetrated by two people.
"It was horrible, that's how they made me feel. All I wanted was to go to the music festival," she said.
The event organisers refunded the price of the woman's ticket, but she said that couldn't "compensate for the psychological trauma that was caused".
Police patrol outside Field Day at The Domain on New Year's Day.CREDIT:SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
The Herald put a number of questions to NSW Police, including whether there were protocols to ascertain if a person was the victim of trauma, such as sexual assault, that could be exacerbated by a strip search.
A spokesperson did not answer the questions but, among a list of responses, said: "Members of the public with nothing to hide from police should not be concerned about police searches."
A sexual assault victims' counselling service referred the woman to the Redfern Legal Centre, which has spearheaded an open letter, backed by senior figures such as former director of public prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery, QC, and pioneering lawyer Elizabeth Evatt, calling for legislative change to strip-search powers.
It comes as data obtained by the legal centre under freedom of information laws showed 296 minors were the target of field strip searches over a two-year period between the financial years 2016-17 and 2017-18. One of those was aged 10. Young adults aged between 18 and 25 were subjected to 4011 strip searches in the same period, 41 per cent of the total 9891 searches across NSW.
The number of NSW Police searches has increased by almost 50 per cent in the four years from financial year 2014-15 to 2017-18.
The number of 18- to 25 year-olds who were subjected to strip searches rose faster than all other age groups, up by 41.5 per cent between 2016-17 and 2017-18. Twenty-year-olds were subject to the most searches of any single age - 329 in 2017-18 alone.
Solicitor Samantha Lee, head of police accountability at the legal centre, said there was an obvious power imbalance where young people with limited knowledge of the law were being made to stand naked in front of two police officers.
"This is an age group where they’re young, their bodies are still developing and they’re still discovering their identity in life, and to be hit by police officers asking them to take off their clothes makes a negative, lasting impression on young people. It's a harmful practice," Ms Lee said.
Separate data published after NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge put questions to Parliament last year showed that two in three searches in 2017-18 turned up nothing, and the rate of prosecutions following strip searches is declining.
The NSW Police data shows Sydney Olympic Park and Moore Park, where music festivals are frequently held, were among the suburbs where most strip searches occurred.
As well as drugs and weapons, police also found stationery, gardening equipment, vehicle plates, and art on people they searched.
Under NSW law a police officer can carry out a strip search if it is necessary for the purposes of the search and if the seriousness and urgency of the circumstances make it necessary.
Ms Lee said the figures suggested that in many incidences officers weren't meeting the criteria of the legislation.
"I have no doubt that many children and adults have been subjected to an unlawful strip search," she said.
The open letter to NSW Police Minister David Elliott also said searches occurring behind "privacy screens" at train stations, including in front of heavy foot traffic at Central Station's Grand Concourse, may not meet privacy requirements.
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission is investigating allegations of police misconduct regarding strip searches and has already carried out several private hearings.
A privacy screen set up by police to strip search commuters at Central Station.
"The commission’s enquiries have led to other complaints regarding strip searching, including strip searching of Aboriginal juveniles," the watchdog said in a statement.
The police spokesperson said strip searches were not the "first line of action" for officers suspecting a person was in possession of a drug, something stolen, a firearm or a prohibited weapon.
"There are controls and safeguards about how extensive and on what basis officers can proceed with a search, and as with any police power, all actions and interactions are recorded," the spokesperson said.
