Class action launched over illegal strip searches by NSW police

A class action lawsuit has been launched on behalf of young people who were unlawfully strip searched at the Splendour in the Grass music festival in 2018.

In 2019, the New South Wales Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) began an investigation into several strip searches conducted by the state's police officers.

The investigation came in the wake of statistics showing that the number of strip searches has risen 20-fold over the past decade or so in our state, to the point where it has become "routine policing", and the fact that in more than 80% of cases, strip searches turn up nothing illegal.

Given its limited resources, the LECC focused on strip searches of young adults at the 2018 Splendour in the Grass music festival, as well as the strip searching of a 15-year-old boy who was required to lift his testicles, a 16-year-old Aboriginal boy who had his shorts pulled off and forced to squat in a vehicle dock