Login
NSW Police class action target over unlawful strip-searching
The NSW Police are likely to be pursued in a class action lawsuit over unlawful strip-searches, which included children dating back to 2015.
Tony Zhang
The legal action seeks to obtain compensation for potentially thousands of people who may have been unlawfully searched by NSW Police over the past six years.
Ebony Birchall, senior associate at Slater and Gordon, said that a class action would allow young people and minorities to feel confident about raising complaints.
Research from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) which the Slaters referred to also showed a 20-fold increase in strip-searches over the past decade – a majority of which produced nothing.
“By acting collectively, it makes access to justice easier, particularly as these searches affect marginalised groups,” Ms Birchall said.
Lawyers Weekly understands that Becca, who attended the Lost in Paradise festival in 2017, would be one of the people to join the potential landmark case against NSW Police.
The now 25-year-old said she felt “numb all over” and powerless after police told her to undress and squat while she was inspected for drugs.
She claims an officer told her she could refuse consent for the search, but her ticket would be confiscated.
A report from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) last year found some searches were unlawful because officers made no attempt to contact a parent, guardian or support person, as required by law for a person aged under 18.
Lawyers Weekly had also previously reported on the review of strip-search laws that found there is a “widespread lack of knowledge” from operational police as to the legal prerequisites for valid searches.
An unlawful police search is legally considered an assault.
It was found officers strip-searching children hadn’t been properly trained and didn’t understand the law on what they were doing.
The commission also found police couldn’t order people to strip naked on a general belief that some music festival patrons would conceal drugs.
