Rethinking Strip Searches – a new report from the University of New South Wales – says the number of strip searches performed beyond police stations surged from 277 in 2006 to nearly 5,500 in mid-2018.
The report is the first of its kind in Australia and details the harmful impacts these searches have on those subjected to them.
Police are able to conduct a strip search “if they have reasonable suspicion to believe that the circumstances are serious and urgent enough that a strip search is necessary,” said Sam Lee, head of Police Accountability at Redfern Legal Centre.
The problem is that the law does not define what “serious, urgent or necessary” is, which “leaves police bringing their own interpretation of when to apply that search,” Ms Lee said.
The report released today specifically recommended that the law itself be clearer about when and how police can conduct these searches.
Read the full article here (SBS The Feed, 22 August 2019)
