More than 100 children were strip searched by NSW police during the state's COVID-19 lockdowns, according to new data which also shows Indigenous people were disproportionately affected.
The figures reveal police in NSW carried out more than 4,500 strip searches between July 2020 and May 2022.
The data obtained by the Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) under access to information laws show 108 children were among those searched, 18 per cent of whom were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, from July 2021 to May 2022.
Overall, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 9 per cent of those strip searched between 2020–21, and 11 per cent between 2021 to May this year.
Dubbo continues to have the highest number of searches involving Indigenous people, with 46 carried out in less than two years.
Chief executive of the NSW/ACT Aboriginal Legal Service, Karly Warner, said data over number of years suggested some police officers were using searches "as a routine form of personal search, yet the law does not support this practice".
"There is no circumstance where it is acceptable for children to be ordered to remove their clothes in front of adults," she said.
"Being strip-searched is a deeply intrusive, disempowering and humiliating process, even more so for vulnerable people.
"Aboriginal people who are too often the targets of discrimination and over-policing."
In 2020, a two-year inquiry by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) into NSW Police strip search practices found they were an "important tool" for officers but could not be conducted as a matter of routine.
In NSW, police are only permitted a strip search when the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that circumstances make a strip search "necessary", "serious" and "urgent".
Samantha Lee, RLC's police accountability senior solicitor, was shocked to learn during the pandemic thousands of young people and First Nations people were subjected to "harmful and invasive strip searches."
"I was expecting the figures to be much lower so that does indicate to us that even though NSW police have amended their policy it's done little to put the brakes on strip search practice," she said.
"So, we get a whole range of young people particularly children for absolutely no reason and nothing is found on them in the end."
The data showed that in nearly 60 per cent of searches nothing illegal was found, during the period.
For each year, an item was found in 42 per cent of searches, with an illegal drug accounting for most items found.
NSW Police said that strip searches were one of the "various proactive strategies" used in its "ongoing commitment to reducing crime and the fear of crime in the community".
A spokesperson said powers "such as searches and move-on directions have been proven to significantly drive down crime", including knife possession and armed robbery.
They said police has responded to the LECC inquiry but is a matter for the commission to make public the conclusions of the report and the NSW Police Force's response to the recommendations.
In July, RLC and law firm Slater and Gordon launched class action proceedings against the state alleging unlawful use of strip searches at music festivals.
