The Daily Populous Thursday September 26th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by smh.com.au and submitted by satisfiedfools

The class action, run by Redfern Legal Centre and Slater and Gordon Lawyers, and launched in 2022, is believed to be the biggest brought against NSW Police. Group members allege they were illegally strip-searched without reasonable grounds and without their consent. In a statement of claim, lead plaintiff Raya Meredith alleges she was forced to partially remove a tampon during a strip-search at Splendour in the Grass in 2018 to prove she had not inserted drugs into her body. She alleges she was forced to bend over while naked, including in front of a male officer, who entered the search area while she was bent over. No drugs were found on her. Thousands of people could be included in the class action, with anyone who attended a music festival in NSW between July 22, 2016 and July 22, 2022 and strip-searched because they were suspected of carrying illicit drugs, meeting the criteria to join.

Anyone who meets the criteria is automatically included in the action but can opt out. The case has been listed for a four-week trial in the NSW Supreme Court starting in May 2025. Redfern Legal Centre senior police accountability solicitor, Samantha Lee, wants a ban on strip-searches conducted because police suspect an individual of minor drug possession, and said the lawsuit was a part of “momentum for change”. Thousands of people strip searched at music festivals could be entitled to compensation from NSW Police. Credit: Paul Harris “I’ve taken instructions from so many young people, both male and female, who have been strip-searched. Most of them are in tears when they’re describing what has happened to them and I’m appalled this practice is still being undertaken by NSW Police on children, young people and adults,” Lee said. “The harm is long-lasting, traumatic. It is one of the most invasive, humiliating practices that police undertake, and we want this practice to stop.”

But NSW Police argues that suspecting an individual of minor drug possession meets the legal threshold for conducting a strip-search. In the 2018-19 and 2019-20 financial years, NSW Police conducted 9116 in-the-field strip-searches, or searches outside of police custody. The reduced number of strip-searches conducted since then has coincided with the cancellation of several major music festivals and months of COVID-19 restrictions in NSW. In December 2020, a Law Enforcement Conduct Commission inquiry into NSW Police’s strip-search practices recommended they should not be considered unless an officer reasonably suspects a general search would not achieve its intended purpose. The inquiry recommended it should be made clear that inspecting a person’s genitals cannot be a routine part of a strip-search and must be justified by police in each situation, and that reasons for strip-searching an individual at a music festival should be recorded on body-worn camera.

It also recommended it be made clear to officers that general intelligence regarding drug use at festivals wasn’t sufficient reason to strip-search someone. Almost 7000 searches have been conducted since July 1, 2021 – the start of the financial year after the inquiry’s recommendations were published. NSW Police declined to answer questions about what changes had been made to strip-search practices, but Commissioner Karen Webb told a parliamentary committee in August that “a whole raft of things” had been done since the inquiry. Like others, Jessica Fatovic was put off music festivals after being strip-searched.

During the search at FOMO festival in 2017, she was ordered to remove her underwear, turn around, squat and cough. “I was shaking. I was really scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I had just been violated by a stranger looking at my private parts, just when I wanted to go on a day out,” she said. “It’s so invasive ... there was no reason for it ... and [the police officer] just went ‘OK, that’s fine, get dressed and go’.” Seven years later, Fatovic’s relationship with police has not been repaired. “Your parents teach you as a kid that the police ... are here to protect you,” Fatovic said.

Loading “I didn’t know that they were going do something inappropriate, I didn’t know that they would violate [me]. “I still get paranoid and nervous when I see police with dogs.” Like Fatovic, Orrock’s opinion of police changed after the search. “It was intimidating. It was really shocking to be treated that way,” Orrock said.

RagingCommunard on September 26th, 2024 at 11:25 UTC »

It is a universal constant that police are scumbags, it's almost like if you create a position of power with nowhere near enough vetting/ training it attracts the worst members of society.

Also this isn't offbeat it's just fucking depressing

6x420x9 on September 26th, 2024 at 09:02 UTC »

That awful, not offbeat

satisfiedfools on September 26th, 2024 at 08:57 UTC »

Police in Sydney routinely conduct invasive strip searches like this at music festivals. We’re talking completely naked searches where guys are told to lift their balls, girls are told to lift their boobs, attendees are told to squat and cough, bend over etc. Most of these strip searches don’t find any drugs, and you’ve got reports of innocent people being left sobbing and shaking after this has happened to them.

For background: In 2001, New South Wales (state in Australia, Sydney is the capital) introduced a law giving police the power to deploy drug detection dogs at certain public locations, namely at major events such as music festivals, train stations and at venues that serve alcohol, such as pubs and clubs. These dogs are notoriously unreliable, and there are reports on social media of handlers forcing their dogs to sit in front people in order to have them searched.

You’ll regularly see operations at train stations where a dog will be sniffing commuters while large numbers of police stand around and watch. On weekends, NSW Police frequently bring the dogs into pubs. They’ll raid places with up to a dozen officers while the dog is brought around to sniff patrons. Total gestapo stuff.

Music festivals are the worst. The police have drug detection dogs at every music festival in Sydney. At these events, they’ll have a fenced off compound setup with makeshift structures such as tents or ticket booths where people stopped by the dogs are taken to be searched. Some people are lucky enough to get away with a pat down, but in many cases, festival attendees have been ordered to strip completely naked and bend over, squat etc. to have their bodies examined for drugs. NSW Police have been known to conduct dozens of strip searches like this over the course of a single event. Again, the vast majority of these searches find nothing. Thousands of music festival attendees have been wrongly subjected to strip searches while attending events in Sydney and to date no one has been held accountable.