Police accountability

Information on police powers and your rights, and resources to help you make police complaints.

Typical police accountability problems

RLC provides free and confidential legal advice to people across NSW about police powers.

We also provide advice on decision-making by government agencies and complaints processes administered by government.

We can advise you about issues including:

  • Police harassment
  • General searches
  • Strip searches
  • Arrests
  • Excessive force
  • Failure to investigate
  • Fines, including COVID-19 fines
  • Access to police records

We offer representation in matters involving serious complaints about the police. 

Please note: RLC does not advise on most criminal matters.

Request advice

Other important contacts

How to contact us

To request free legal advice about police complaints, or police and government accountability:

complete our online form call 02 9698 7277

If we are able to advise you, we will arrange for a solicitor to call you back. If we are not able to assist you we may refer you to other services and resources, including those listed below. Learn more about accessing our services.

Police powers self-help topics

Prior to making a police complaint, it is generally recommended you apply to obtain police records relating to your complaint matter. To obtain police records you must make an application under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW).

If you’ve been stopped or arrested by police this incident may have been filmed. You can ask to see this footage or request that the footage not be destroyed using the templates and information below:

If you are attending a public protest, it is important to know your rights and the limits of police powers.

See also

Harsh new protest laws passed in NSW (March 2022)

Factsheets and links to information to help you deal with fines, or request a review if you believe you have been fined incorrectly.

Fines lawcodes

Type in the fine lawcode/ offence code which is usually located on the penalty notice to see details of the offence on the NSW Lawcode Database.

Search lawcodeS

Law reform updates

Police accountability news

RLC in the media

A centuries-old legal presumption that children aged between 10 and 14 don’t understand the difference between right and wrong is to be reviewed after New South Wales youth criminal conviction rates tumbled fivefold. The NSW attorney general’s office said the review will consider how the principle of doli incapax – Latin for “incapable of evil” – is applied in criminal proceedings, its impact on intervention, possible improvements and a framework for legislation. In NSW, the criminal age of responsibility is 10 but doli incapax can apply up to 14. The presumption can be rebutted if police can prove a child understood what they did was seriously wrong, as opposed to naughty. Geoffrey Bellew SC, the state parole authority chair and a former supreme court judge, and Jeffrey Loy, a former NSW police deputy commissioner, will lead the doli incapax review, the NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, said on Thursday.
RLC in the media

The young woman leading a class action over strip searches was subjected to a "degrading and humiliating" experience "akin to a sexual assault" by NSW Police at a music festival in 2018, a court has heard. WARNING: This article contains graphic content. Last month, the state of NSW made a dramatic backflip in the case, admitting police acted unlawfully when they searched Raya Meredith at the Splendour In The Grass music festival, ordering her to bend over while naked and remove a tampon. Her barrister, Kylie Nomchong SC, on Monday told the hearing her client would be making an additional claim for aggravated damages due to feelings of "hurt and distress" caused by police previously denying her account for more than two years.
Media releases

A class action hearing led by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and Redfern Legal Centre against the State of New South Wales will commence on Monday, 5 May. Justice Dina Yehia will preside over the multiple day hearing. The class action, filed in July 2022, challenges the lawfulness of thousands of strip searches carried out by NSW Police at music festivals between July 2016 and 2022.

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