More than 4,000 strip searches were carried out in New South Wales between July 2020 and May 2022 with data recently released under freedom of information laws revealing that of the strip searches conducted in that period, more than 100 children were searched, including a 13-year-old, Sydney Criminal Lawyers reports. 

A major concern is that police have ‘targets’ in relation to strip searches, which in itself could potentially lead officers to feel under pressure to overlook their legal responsibility – which states that they must have a ‘reasonable suspicion’ in order to conduct a strip search – in favour of ‘meeting quotas’. 

In the meantime, New South Wales festival-goers have taken matters into their own hands, having launched a class action against the NSW Police Force in the Supreme Court of New South Wales last month, claiming that police officers carried out “unlawful acts including assault, battery and false imprisonment” against festival goers, whilst searching them for illicit substances. 

For more information, read the full article.