‘Obscene’ number of festival body searches due to drug-sniffing dog fail
A police reports shows drug-detection dogs incorrectly detect illicit substances on people in 75 per cent of cases, prompting questions about their use as a basis for searches and strip-searches as the music festival season begins.
Photo: Graham Finney/Cover Images
NSW Police search figures show the dogs scored an average success rate of just 25 per cent during the last decade.
Of the more than 94,000 general and strip searches undertaken from 2013 until June 30 this year after a drug dog detection, nearly 71,000 yielded no illicit drugs, according to figures released to NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann.
In NSW, officers can undertake either general or strip-searches if they have a reasonable suspicion people have illicit drugs in their possession.
However, a drug dog detection does not entitle police to routinely conduct a search and officers are required to ask follow-up questions, such as whether a person is in possession of banned drugs.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said drug-detection dogs were very effective with the “majority” of canine searches resulting “in either drugs being located, or the person admitting recent contact with illegal drugs”.
The release of the data follows a damning audit released on Monday from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission that revealed police were failing to follow proper procedures during strip searches.
It found less than half of NSW police officers who carried out strip searches at five music festivals in 2021 and 2022 had completed specialist training.
It also revealed officers routinely failed to properly complete official music festival field processing forms, intended to ensure searches were conducted lawfully.
It also revealed officers routinely failed to properly complete official music festival field processing forms, intended to ensure searches were conducted lawfully.
The report highlighted that in some cases officers appeared to rely solely on drug dog indications when they carried out strip searches, in a breach of police policies.
Around 30 per cent of strip-search records audited did not demonstrate reasonable grounds for the procedure.
Faehrmann said the use of drug-detection dogs led to people being needlessly searched.
“We don’t think that searches should be undertaken at music festivals, we don’t think that drug dogs should be at music festivals,” she said.
“But what’s clear is it seems that police are using the presence of drug dogs to justify an obscenely high number of searches in this state and an obscenely high number of strip-searches.”
-with AAP
