The current law in NSW directing the use of strip searches by police is vague, legalistic, open to wide interpretation and  fails to provide proper safeguards for members of the public.

Teenagers and children as young as ten have been subjected to a full body strip search.¹ In some circumstances, they have been asked to squat and cough.²

Strip searches are happening in many places – at music festivals, in rural areas, in the suburbs, in the city, beside the road, on the street and in the back of a paddy wagon.

Redfern Legal Centre has been contacted by many people who have been subjected to full strip-searches by police and yet nothing has been found on them. They have felt humiliated, vulnerable and scared.

The aim of this campaign is to improve legal safe guards to prevent the over use of strip searches by police, especially for those under the age of 18 years.