Slater and Gordon and Redfern Legal Centre have filed proceedings in the Supreme Court of NSW against the state on behalf of people who were allegedly “invasively and unlawfully searched” by police.
According to a joint statement from the firm and CLC, “group members also allege that some people who were searched – including minors – were directed by police to lift or remove items of clothing, lift their breasts and genitals, or strip naked and squat and cough so officers could visually inspect body cavities. Women were ordered to remove sanitary products so they too could be inspected”.
The strip searches that group members were subjected to, the Statement of Claim notes, were allegedly “conducted in contravention of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2022 (NSW).
Redfern Legal Centre senior police accountability solicitor Samantha Lee said: “Our investigations show that invasive and unlawful police searches at NSW festivals have become routine, resulting in very few charges, but leaving thousands of young people and minors humiliated and severely traumatised.”
“With this class action, Redfern Legal Centre and Slater and Gordon are seeking compensation and redress for the significant numbers of people believed to have been unlawfully searched,” she said.
Redfern Legal Centre senior police accountability solicitor Samantha Lee said: “Our investigations show that invasive and unlawful police searches at NSW festivals have become routine, resulting in very few charges, but leaving thousands of young people and minors humiliated and severely traumatised.”
“With this class action, Redfern Legal Centre and Slater and Gordon are seeking compensation and redress for the significant numbers of people believed to have been unlawfully searched,” she said.
The firm and CLC will also, Ms Lee went on, look to the courts to make findings that will ensure this “traumatising police practice becomes the exception, not the rule”.
Slater and Gordon Class Actions associate Meg Lessing added that hundreds of people had already registered for the group proceeding, since the firm and CLC announced that a class action was being investigated against police in relation to unlawful searches at Splendour in the Grass music festivals, dating back to 2016.
Raya Meredith, who is the lead plaintiff, was allegedly strip searched by police for 30 minutes at the Splendour in the Grass festival in 2018, an ordeal that found no drugs.
Group members are seeking damages, aggravated damages, exemplary damages, costs and interest.
For those whose searches were “particularly invasive or distressing”, the firm and CLC wrote, damages could be in the order of tens of thousands of dollars.
Source: Strip search class action filed against State of NSW – Lawyers Weekly