Paul Gregoire reports for Sydney Criminal Lawyers
The proceedings will cover all music festival attendees, who’ve registered and been subjected to a suspect strip search at events held in this state since July 2016.
Going back a decade ago, festivalgoers in NSW did not have to factor in a potential strip search when going out. However, over the succeeding years, the NSW Police Force has dramatically escalated its use of this invasive practice on the street and at events.
Redfern Legal Centre has been one of the most vocal critics of the heightened use of strip searches by NSW police.
Indeed, it commissioned a 2019 UNSW report, which found that the strip search protocols within the legislation are so vague that officers are regularly applying them in a likely illegal manner.
The Redfern Legal Centre and Slater and Gordon have teamed up to run the class action. The community legal centre and the law firm are continuing to call on all festivalgoers who might have been subjected to an unlawful search since mid-2016 to register for the case.
NSW police has been increasing its use of strip searches at events over the last half decade. Its stated purpose is to curb drug use, but Redfern Legal Centre asserts this aim isn’t being achieved.
Read full article at Police Powers Are Bleeding Out”: Redfern Legal Centre’s Sam Lee on the Strip Search Class Action (Sydney Criminal Lawyers, 4 August 2022).
