The number of Indigenous people strip-searched by New South Wales police jumped 35% over the past 12 months with 11 of those searched aged under 18, including a 12-year-old.
NSW police data released under the state’s Gipa laws revealed 340 First Nations Australians were strip-searched in the 2022-23 financial year, up from 253 the year before.
The figures show Aboriginal people are disproportionately represented – making up 14% of all searches but 3.4% of the state’s population.
The data, released to the Redfern Legal Centre (RLS), also revealed 56 children aged under 18 were strip-searched over the past financial year, including 25 underage girls, three of whom were 12.
The Redfern Legal Centre senior solicitor Samantha Lee said Aboriginal children and adults “bear the brunt of police strip-searches” and called on the practice to be discussed at the Minns government’s proposed drugs summit.
“The strip-searching of children is an abuse of power and we know the practice can cause long-term trauma,” she said.
“The government should implement an immediate pause on the strip-searching of children and place strip-searches on the drug summit agenda.”
The Labor government came to power pledging a drugs summit to discuss reform but is yet to announce further details, including when it will be held or what it will cover.
“The law must change to protect children,” Lee added.
The Gipa data also revealed seven girls under 18 were strip-searched between July 2021 and June 2022. A total of 107 children were strip-searched over the past two years.
“The significant increase in strip-searching girls is a matter of huge concern,” Lee said.
“Strip searches constitute an invasive, humiliating, and harmful process and should only be used in exceptional circumstances when no other alternative exists.”
A Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) audit of strip-searches released in September found over the past two years fewer than a third of searches complied with rules designed to protect people’s privacy and dignity.
It found “low standards of record-keeping” for the sample of 359 records it analysed from five music festivals in 2021 and 2022.
Better police record-keeping and audits of strip-search data were among the recommendations made by the LECC in its landmark two-year inquiry into strip-searches in NSW handed down in December 2020.
The state government is facing a supreme court class action by festival-goers who claim they were subjected to “invasive and unlawful” strip-searches.
After the most recent audit, a NSW police spokesperson said the force noted the release of the report and had taken steps to “rectify the gaps in training and knowledge”.
