NSW Police To Be Investigated Over Strip Search Of 16-year-old At Splendour In The Grass

NSW Police involved in the strip search of a 16-year-old girl at the 2018 Splendour In The Grass festival will come under investigation. 

As Sydney Morning Herald reports, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) will open an investigation into the incident, as well as looking into the practice of strip searches during a public hearing next month.

It comes after an expert revealed at the recent music festival inquest that the trauma experienced during strip searches is similar to that sustained from sexual assault, regardless of whether or not the person is concealing drugs during the search. 

"They talk about how huge the effect can be emotionally, the anxiety, the fear, increased heart rate, sweaty palms, shaking and nervousness," researcher Peta Malins said.

"They talk about how hard it was to answer the questions of the police."

A woman also claimed she was "treated like a criminal" during a police strip search at a 2017 Knockout Circuz music festival, saying an officer said "'If you don't tell me where the drugs are I'm going to make this nice and slow'," during the search.

Meanwhile, Inspector Brook Dwyer of Queensland Police Station's Drug and Alcohol Coordination Unit revealed during a panel at BIGSOUND earlier this month that the practice of strip searches are being discussed in Queensland. 

"We are working here with all of our areas in our policing in Queensland to change that," Dwyer said.

"It is a policy that's been used for years and years and years that needs to change and we're working towards that. I think that some of it comes from traditionally old views of drug enforcement. Can I say, not defending my colleagues in NSW, but can I say that the pressure comes from more than just those police that are sitting at that festival.”