To be given a police badge and to wear the distinctive blue uniform that goes with it is the culmination of months at the police academy at Goulburn. A police officer has enormous power and it is necessary to know the law to a similar degree to that of a lawyer. A police officer's job is to interpret and implement the laws in place in the state of New South Wales.
A hearing before the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) is hearing disquieting evidence from police- whose identity is suppressed - that people passing through the entrance to the " Splendour in the Grass "music festival this year were strip searched if a sniffer dog showed interest as an indication that illegal drugs were present.
Nineteen such strip searches were conducted and only one delivered an item of interest. It was an anti depression tablet which was quite legal. One of those people searched was a sixteen year old girl who gave evidence that she found the experience very distressing. She was required to take off all her clothes in front of a female police officer and this included the panty liner in her briefs examined for the presence of drugs. It was humiliating and she doubts she would feel comfortable calling in the police in the event of a future emergency.
The law in New South Wales clearly requires the search of a minor - which is anyone under eighteen years of age - to be conducted in the presence of a parent or a similar guardian. This may only be disregarded if a sense of " urgency " is present and it was clear that this was not an issue on the day this search happened.
Quite clearly, this strip search was illegal and it is now revealed that of the nineteen such searches conducted that day none delivered the presence of illegal drugs. It seems that people pulled from the entrance line for a strip search either had the misfortune to have a sniffer dog show interest, or were selected on the whim of observing police.
Conducting strip searches at music festivals is a relatively new tactic used by police and it must have been sanctioned at the highest levels of the police structure. This " very invasive " procedure was carried out without adherence to the necessary legislation that required a parent or guardian to be present when a minor was searched. Clearly, search procedure was lax if the relevant legal requirements were not embedded in the minds of the officers tasked with carrying out these searches.
It seems likely that the threat of a strip search is being used as a bluff by police when they question suspects for information. Many ordinary citizens have an advanced notion of modesty and the thought of being forced to totally disrobe in front of strangers is terrifying. That the police do have the power to make such an order is little short of mental torture.
There will obviously be times when a body search is necessary to obtain critical evidence and that " urgency " motive will be applicable, but perhaps the person may need to be arrested and taken to a place such as a hospital where that search will be carried out in a sterile environment with a medical witness.
That would open the door to a charge of false arrest. As things stand, a strip search is an indignity that may be undertaken with nothing more than malicious intent. It puts immense power to inflict humiliation in police hands without the necessity to lay a charge or even give a logical reason.
Unless power comes with necessary oversight it will inevitably be abused !
No comments:
Post a Comment