New South Wales Police Force strip search scandal (original) (raw)
The New South Wales Police Force strip search scandal refers to an ongoing policing scandal surrounding the routine and arbitrary use of strip searches by members of the New South Wales Police Force. Particular concern has centred around the use of strip searches "in the field", the term used by NSW Police to describe the practice of conducting strip searches outside of a police station. Following the introduction of a controversial law in 2001, police in New South Wales were given the power to deploy specially trained drug detection dogs at large scale public events, licensed venues, and on selected routes across Sydney's public transport network. In 2006, a review published by the New South Wales Ombudsman found that there were significant issues relating to their use, including civil li
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| dbo:abstract | The New South Wales Police Force strip search scandal refers to an ongoing policing scandal surrounding the routine and arbitrary use of strip searches by members of the New South Wales Police Force. Particular concern has centred around the use of strip searches "in the field", the term used by NSW Police to describe the practice of conducting strip searches outside of a police station. Following the introduction of a controversial law in 2001, police in New South Wales were given the power to deploy specially trained drug detection dogs at large scale public events, licensed venues, and on selected routes across Sydney's public transport network. In 2006, a review published by the New South Wales Ombudsman found that there were significant issues relating to their use, including civil liberties concerns, false positives, and low rates of accuracy. The report noted that during a two-year period between February 2002 and February 2004, NSW Police had conducted 10,211 personal searches resulting from positive drug detection dog indications. Most of those searches had either been a pat down or a search of a person's belongings, however in several cases, officers had made the decision to proceed to a strip search. The Ombudsman noted that such incidents were rare at the time. In late 2014, several stories were published alleging that NSW Police had begun routinely using indications from drug detection dogs as a justification for conducting strip searches. Since that time, the practice has been documented through various news reports and firsthand accounts published on social media. Particular controversy has surrounded the use of strip searches at large scale public events such as music festivals in New South Wales, where in the aftermath of a drug detection dog indication, patrons will typically be escorted to a fenced off compound inside the venue. Inside these compounds, NSW Police have allegedly employed the use of structures such as ticket booths, tents, makeshift partitions and police vans to conduct both strip searches and less invasive general searches. In some cases, it has been alleged that these structures did not offer adequate privacy to individuals being searched, leaving them potentially exposed to other attendees or officers outside. In cases where a strip search has been conducted, patrons have recalled being made to perform tasks such as lifting their breasts or genitals, bending over, spreading their buttocks, squatting and in some cases coughing while either partially or completely naked. Separate reports have also documented similar incidents taking place at train stations and licensed venues across New South Wales during drug detection dog operations as well. Statistical data obtained from NSW Police shows that in the six-year period between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2020, officers had conducted 27,835 strip searches "in the field". Of that number, 5,659 were recorded as having taken place in the aftermath of a positive drug detection dog indication, with the same figures revealing that an additional 63,302 general searches resulting from the use of drug detection dogs had also been carried out during this period. Data pertaining to specific events is limited, however at the Splendour in the Grass music festival in July 2018, it was revealed that over the course of two days, officers had carried out 512 personal searches, with 143 of those searches being strip searches. More than 90% of strip searches conducted at the event had resulted in no illicit substances being found. In October 2018, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, the state's newly established police watchdog, launched a formal investigation into the use of strip searches by NSW Police, citing complaints from members of the public and wider community concerns surrounding the practice. A final report handed down in December 2020 noted that "a recurrent issue throughout the Inquiry was the failure of officers to comply with, or at least to properly account for their compliance with, the legal thresholds for conducting a strip search". The commission also noted that there had been a "significant increase" in the "number and proportion" of strip searches carried out following drug detection dog indications in the five years between 2014 and 2019. Figures published in the report showed a reduction in the number of strip searches conducted in the field during the first half of 2020, a change that was largely attributed to the cancellation of music festivals in New South Wales due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. (en) |
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| dbp:align | left (en) |
| dbp:author | Former 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones speaking about the woman's comments on breakfast radio. (en) - Excerpts from the testimony of a 28-year-old witness who had allegedly been strip searched by police at the Knockout Circuz music festival in 2017. (en) Assistant Police Commissioner Peter Thurtell (en) Former New South Wales Ombudsman Bruce Barbour (en) |
| dbp:bgcolor | #CEE0F2 (en) |
| dbp:date | 2001 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:inquiries | dbr:New_South_Wales_Police_Force_strip_sea...nt_Conduct_Commission_investigations) |
| dbp:litigation | dbr:New_South_Wales_Police_Force_strip_search_scandal |
| dbp:location | dbr:New_South_Wales,_Australia |
| dbp:name | New South Wales Police Force strip search scandal (en) |
| dbp:quote | "I had to take my top off and my bra, and I covered my boobs and she told me to put my hands up, and she told me to tell her where the drugs were". "She said, 'If you don't tell me where the drugs are, I'm going to make this nice and slow'". "She made me take my shorts off, and my underwear, and she made me squat and cough, and squat and cough, and squat and cough, and I had to turn around and squat and cough". "She opened the door while I was still naked and handed the wallet to someone else then made me stand there for a bit". (en) |
| dbp:text | Police will exclude any person from the venue that the drug dog indicates has or who has recently had drugs on them, regardless of whether drugs are located. (en) Now seriously, what in God's name is going on? We're all opposed to drugs and we're opposed to drug taking and trafficking. But there is certainly no way in the world that kind of behaviour can be condoned in order to find those who are guilty. (en) Overwhelmingly, the use of drug detection dogs has led to public searches of individuals in which no drugs were found, or to the detection of adults in possession of very small amounts of cannabis for personal use. (en) |
| dbp:type | Police misconduct - Improper use of strip searches (en) |
| dbp:venue | Multiple locations, including music festivals, train stations, licensed venues and police stations (en) |
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| dct:subject | dbc:History_of_New_South_Wales dbc:Police_misconduct_in_Australia dbc:Law_enforcement_in_New_South_Wales dbc:Strip_search |
| rdfs:comment | The New South Wales Police Force strip search scandal refers to an ongoing policing scandal surrounding the routine and arbitrary use of strip searches by members of the New South Wales Police Force. Particular concern has centred around the use of strip searches "in the field", the term used by NSW Police to describe the practice of conducting strip searches outside of a police station. Following the introduction of a controversial law in 2001, police in New South Wales were given the power to deploy specially trained drug detection dogs at large scale public events, licensed venues, and on selected routes across Sydney's public transport network. In 2006, a review published by the New South Wales Ombudsman found that there were significant issues relating to their use, including civil li (en) |
| rdfs:label | New South Wales Police Force strip search scandal (en) |
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