Days after a coronial inquest into music festival deaths condemned the widespread use of strip searched to detect drug possession, Redfern Legal Centre has obtained documents under freedom of information laws that outline the standard operation procedures detection dog handles “must adhere to”.
Samantha Lee, head of the Police Accountability practice at Redfern Legal Centre, said NSW Police took the centre to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal to prevent the procedures being made public for the first time.
The documents state a positive detection “DOES NOT on its own provide police with the power to search” and does not constitute “reasonable grounds” to conduct a search upon an individual.
The guidelines also state that “overly crowded” venues or licensed premises can “limit the effectiveness of a drug dog” and that patrons who have already consumed drugs may cause “minimal indications”.
Ms Lee said the documents were yet another form of evidence that “police aren’t adhering to their own procedures”. She also stated that the documents make clear that some dog handlers within the force are “not being informed and properly trained”.
“Sniffer dogs are being used as reasonable ground – their own documents clarify that this should not be happening,” she said.
“Redfern Legal Centre also lodged complaints for a number of clients who were taken from a drug-dog indication to a full-body strip search. We now know from the [operating procedures] that these searches may have been unlawful and completely unnecessary.”
Last week, The Sun Herald revealed the LECC was struggling to cope with a “firehose” of complaints against NSW Police, including complaints about strip searches.
Read the full article here (Sydney Morning Herald, 10 November 2019).
