Music is a big part of Raya Meredith’s life, but these days she hesitates before going to a show, for fear of being searched by security or the police.
Key points:
- The class action alleges that police conducted unlawful acts against festival-goers while searching them for illicit substances
- Police can still search a child as young as 10 without parents present, legal experts say
- The statement says NSW Police will not comment as the case is before the courts
WARNING: This article contains graphic content
Four years ago, Ms Meredith was about to walk through the main entrance of the Splendor in the Grass festival when police stopped her with a sniffer dog and subjected her to what she described as a “degrading” body search.
Now, it is part of a class action launched on behalf of music festival patrons who claim they have been subject to invasive searches by NSW police over the past six years.
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The 27-year-old said police ordered her to lift her breasts and bend over to show them her genitals, to show that a tampon was the only thing inside her body.
No drugs were found during the 30-minute search.
“The whole experience was really degrading, terrifying and confusing,” she said.
“It took away all the fun that had been building up until that weekend when all I wanted to do was go and hear live music, which is a huge part of my life.
“Since then, every time I go through security to enter a festival or a concert, I get scared and wonder if it’s going to happen to me again.”
Redfern Legal Center and law firm Slater and Gordon filed a statement of claim for the class action in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, on behalf of several hundred people seeking damages from the state.
It alleges that the police carried out unlawful acts such as assault, battery and false imprisonment against festival-goers while searching them for illicit substances.
Attorney Samantha Lee said police are expected to stop using sniffer dogs and searches for minor drug possession. (Provided by Sam Lee)
Redfern Legal Center lawyer Samantha Lee said she hoped there would also be significant changes to the law to prevent NSW police from carrying out searches except in serious and urgent circumstances.
“The legislation still allows a child as young as 10 to be searched in New South Wales without a parent present. It still provides no clarification on cavity searches and squatting and coughing,” he said .
“It still allows the police to search without a support person present. So we want to see not just internal policy changes, but some really significant changes to the law.”
Ms Meredith said she had agreed to lead the class action because what the police did was wrong.
“There are laws in place about when the police can search a person and how those searches should be conducted, but they didn’t follow them with me,” he said.
On Friday, a festival-goer tweeted a photo of police with sniffer dogs at an airport, screening passengers heading to Splendor in the Grass, which was in Byron Bay.
In 2019, NSW Coroner Harriet Grahame said evidence showed a strong police presence and that drug-detection dogs could be intimidating and precipitate “panic ingestion” and “dangerous pre-loading”, which could increase the risk of disease or mortality.
Ms Lee said the personal harm to young people was significant and could be compared to the impact of sexual assault.
“There’s a level of embarrassment and shame, some of them don’t even tell their parents because they strip-searched them on suspicion of drug use and so they hold on to this very deep hurt and emotion for a long time” , he said. said
“Every other government profession has strong child protection policies, I see absolutely no reason why this practice (clothes searching) should not be removed from NSW Police.”
In 2020, a two-year Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) inquiry into NSW police search practices found they were an “important tool” for officers, but not could be carried out routinely.
The LECC recommended NSW Police review their approach to music festivals, saying “general intelligence about drug use” at previous events was “not sufficient on its own to justify” the procedure.
NSW Police issued a statement saying they would not comment as the case is before the courts.