There were 107 children strip-searched in total.
The new data obtained by Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) under freedom of information laws covers two years from July 2021 to June 2023 and shows police conducted 4,591 strip searches, with a 13 per cent increase in strip searches over this period. The figures show a 30% increase in strip searches of girls (10-17 years) over that same year.
The youngest person strip search was 12, and the oldest was 73.
First Nations people and children accounted for 14 per cent of the total number of strip searches. First Nations people make up less than 3 per cent of the New South Wales population.
Senior Solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre Samantha Lee says:
“Subjecting children to strip searches is harmful. Our data shows that a 12-year-old child was subject to a strip search. The law must change to protect children.”
“The significant increase in strip-searching girls is a matter of huge concern. Evidence demonstrates how traumatising such an invasive search can be.
“The sheer number of strip searches indicates the law is not being applied as intended by NSW Parliament, which intended it to be a last resort.
“Strip searches constitute an invasive, humiliating, and harmful process and should only be used in exceptional circumstances when no other alternative exists.
“It is simply unacceptable that these figures continue to disproportionately overrepresent First Nations people and children.
“Redfern Legal Centre welcomed NSW police policy changes in 2020 designed to increase safeguards around strip-searches. But with over 4000 invasive searches conducted during the past two years, even during periods of COVID lockdown, further changes are needed,” she said.
On 21 July 2022, Redfern Legal Centre and Slater and Gordon Lawyers filed a class action proceeding for people unlawfully searched by NSW Police at all music festivals in NSW since 22 July 2016. The matter is back in the Supreme Court in December.
