Strip searches at music festivals under the microscope | Music News

What is this report?

• It has been described as a “collaborative review undertaken by the NSW Police Force and the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission”. 

• Just for some clarity, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commision's primary role is to detect, investigate and expose misconduct and maladministration within the NSW Police Force.

• But the NSW Police force was involved in this review of its own practices.

• Essentially, this data was released after 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.

• So this report  itself includes the Commission’s 2020 Inquiry and a follow-up report published this week which has data from strip search practices in 2021 and  2022. And we’re mainly talking about strip searches at music festivals here.

Can you step us through some of the report findings?

• Less than half of the officers who carried out strip searches at the music festivals in the sample had completed the specialist music festival training. 28% of officers did not complete the training at all.

• NSW police complied with rules to protect dignity in just 27% of strip-searches

• The report also found that officers performing searches at the festivals had not used a “music festivals field processing form” designed to help police comply with person searching law and policy. Which resulted in only 35% of records being clear and consistent.

• Adding some more insult to injury… only 30% of strip search records reflected consideration of seriousness and urgency.

What have the NSW Police said in response to the finding?

• The NSW Police Force acknowledged the results were below the expected standard. It said this may have been because the new training and process form were not communicated to the field effectively. 

• In a media release from the LECC, Acting Chief Commissioner Anina Johnson highlighted training and policies alone are not enough to change conduct.

• Saying… “It is critical that new processes are effectively communicated to all police officers and reinforced with proper supervision on the ground.”

• Another document stated, “The NSW Police Force has since re-communicated the music festivals training and guidelines throughout the state.” But I can’t find anything firmer on what else they’re doing to improve these results.

So, going into festival season. What are the strip search laws?

• So this is NOT legal advice. But, the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (LEPRA) gives police powers to search people in certain circumstances. LEPRA also requires officers to follow certain rules to preserve a person’s privacy and dignity.

• An officer may conduct a person search if the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that the person has in their possession any stolen, prohibited, dangerous or otherwise unlawfully obtained item. So in a musical festival setting we’re mainly talking about illicit drugs.

• A person search means the officer may quickly run their hands over the person's outer clothing and require the person to remove coat, jacket, shoes, socks, gloves and hat, pass an electronic metal detection device over a person's outer clothing or anything removed from the person. 

• An officer may strip search a person in the field (i.e. any place that is not a police station) if the officer suspects on reasonable grounds that: 

• a strip search is necessary for the purposes of the search, and that 

• the seriousness and urgency of the circumstances make the strip search necessary. 

• And there are sections on additional privacy and dignity rules which officers must follow during a strip search.

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Source: https://www.homebrewed.au

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