Children searched more than 100,000 times by NSW police

Police are conducting more than 150,000 body searches annually across NSW,with children and Indigenous people more likely to be stopped and interrogated.

The deployment of police drug dogs was also ramped up over the past four years,primarily in the western suburbs and central Sydney.

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Auburn recorded more than 2500 searches between 2018 and 2022,while the northern beaches had only 74 searches for the same period.

UNSW Law academic Dr Vicki Sentas said searching children was “highly traumatic and harmful”. Sentas said the offending by children was usually minor,such as shoplifting or drug possession. A lot of youth who come into contact with the police have complex needs.

NSW Police conducted 855,038 body searches between July 1,2018,and May 21,2022. There were 112,050 searches of children aged between 10 and 17 years,while children aged 10 and 11 were searched 844 times. Almost half of those (356) were Indigenous.

“Searches shouldn’t be used against children at all,let alone for 10-,11- and 12-year-olds,” Sentas said.

“The gross over-representation of First Nations in stop and search is a very old problem the police force doesn’t see as a problem and refuse to come to terms with.”

More than 70 per cent of Indigenous young people surveyed in the latestyoung people in custody health survey did not trust police.

Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT CEO Karly Warner said Indigenous people experienced “systemic racism dealing with police and the legal system”.

“You only need to listen to Aboriginal people,including children as young as 10,who have been publicly shamed and embarrassed by being searched in the street – sometimes repeatedly,” Warner said.

“Aboriginal people should be able to walk out of their homes in the morning and return safe in the evening without being targeted by police.”

Redfern Legal Centre obtained the search data via freedom of information laws. Their solicitor for police accountability,Samantha Lee,said the results showed “over-policing” Indigenous people.

“The data reveals a shocking level of disproportionate person searches conducted on First Nations people compared to the general population,” Lee said.

“In locations such as Surry Hills and Waterloo,First Nations people were 10 times more likely to be searched than the general population. In key regional areas,they were up to seven times more likely.”

Deputy Premier and Police Minister Paul Toole and a NSW police spokeswoman did not answer questions about searching children or Indigenous people. The spokeswoman said there were “controls and safeguards” for how police could proceed with a search.

The controversial use of police drug dogs to initiate person searches has also been ramped up over past three years. There were 16,077 searches between 2019 and November 2022,4876 resulting in drugs being found.

Dr Sentas said police used sniffer dogs to harass people who had not committed an offence in most cases.

“Official training advises police not to rely on sniffer dog detection alone as the basis for conducting a search,but this appears to be the default,” Sentas said.

“In the small minority of searches where sniffer dogs have detected drugs,most will be for mere possession,which is a minor offence.

“Sniffer dog use by police runs against proven harm minimisation and public health approaches to drug use.”

NSW Police said drug detection dogs were only one of the strategies used to either “target illicit drug supply or to assist people to combat drug addiction”.

“Drug detection dogs are trained to detect the odour of illicit drugs and drugs may not be located during a search because police simply cannot locate the drugs or the person has already consumed them and the odour of drugs remains on their clothes,” police said.

“Since the introduction of the use of drug detection dogs in NSW,they have been responsible for the location of hundreds of kilograms of illicit drugs at search warrants and during people screen operations.”

Toole said he would always back police for using tools to make their job easier.

Labor police spokesman Paul Scully did not answer specific questions,but repeated Labor’s pledge to hold a wide-ranging drug summit as a “top priority” if elected in March.

“A drug summit would gather police,the legal system,clinicians,academics,family members,users,young people and other experts together to consider and advise on a wide variety of policy challenges,including but not limited to drug use,addiction and policing practices and legislative or regulatory reforms,” Scully said.

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