Data obtained under freedom of information laws has revealed the shocking reality that over 120 underage girls have been strip searched by NSW Police since 2016.
In an exclusive report by The Guardian, it has been revealed that the Redfern Legal Centre obtained the data under FOI laws and relayed that there were almost 4,000 strip searches done on women in the last three years. Half of those women were under the age of 25, and the oldest woman who was strip-searched was 72 years old.
This follows news that a 16-year old was allegedly unlawfully strip searched at the Splendour in the Grass music festival last year, and an admission by a NSW police officer that the 19 strip searched he conducted at the same festival may have been unlawful.
Head of RLC’s Police Accountability practice, Samantha Lee, said that these underage women would have been frightened and most wouldn’t know about their legal rights in that situation.
“Girls as young as 12 and 13, some just finishing primary school, are being taken by police to a strange place and ordered by someone with a huge amount of power to take off their clothes,” she said.
“There is no doubt these young women would have been scared, some terrified and most having no idea of their legal rights.”
The data also reportedly revealed that in 66% of the strip searches conducted on those 3,919 women in the past three years, nothing was found.
Read the full article here (Music Feeds, 6 November 2019)
