Two law firms are looking to launch strip-search class actions against NSW Police over alleged unlawful use of invasive searches.
The legal action seeks to obtain compensation for potentially thousands of people who may have been unlawfully searched by NSW Police over the past six years.
Redfern Legal Centre has joined forces with Slater and Gordon Lawyers to investigate the class action claims against NSW Police.
Redfern Legal Centre police accountability solicitor Samantha Lee said in a statement on Wednesday it would be an important step in changing legislation and preventing more traumatic and unnecessary strip searches.
Slater and Gordon senior associate Ebony Birchall said there were "systemic problems" around strip searches which were eroding community confidence in the police.
Becca, who attended the 2017 Lost Paradise festival on the NSW Central Coast, revealed how she was left feeling "numb all over" after being searched at the festival.
“I was just so aware that people could look in. My main concern was the male police officers being so close at the time. There was no real privacy… It just felt very perverted, to be honest,” she said.
The law firms said the 22-year-old was asked by a female officer to lift up her top, remove her pants, drop, squat, and cough in a transit van while male officers were standing outside.
The NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission earlier this month found officers strip-searching children hadn't been properly trained and didn't understand the law on what they were doing.
Becca, 22, was left feeling "numb all over" after being searched at the 2017 Lost Paradise festival. Source: Supplied
The commission also found police couldn't order people to strip naked on a general belief that some music festival patrons would conceal drugs.
A University of NSW report in August last year found the number of field strip searches in the state jumped to 5483 in 2017/18, compared with 277 between December 2005 and November 2006.
Officers can only conduct a strip search in the field if they suspect it's necessary and the seriousness and urgency of the circumstances make it necessary.
