Australia’s newest top cop has started his first day on the job by apologising to a young woman who was unlawfully strip searched at a popular music festival.
Raya Meredith was awarded $93,000 in damages on Tuesday as the NSW Supreme Court ruled police falsely imprisoned and undressed her in their search for drugs during the 2018 Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay.
In a marquee that did not offer nearly enough privacy, the then-27-year-old was asked to remove all of her clothes, including a tampon in an unlawful use of police powers.
Mal Lanyon apologised to Ms Meredith during his first press conference after being sworn in as the 24th NSW Police Commissioner on Wednesday.
‘I apologise,’ he said.
‘What has been reported is outside our policy and practice.
‘We’ve made significant strides in terms of policy, practice and education.’
Lanyon, who was state crime commander in 2018, overseeing drug and major crime squads, said he stood by strip searches as a ‘valid tool’ in the police arsenal.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has apologised to a Splendour In the Grass festivalgoer awarded $93,000 in damages after she was falsely imprisoned and undressed by police
The top cop stands by the decision to conduct strip searches at music festivals, arguing that they are a ‘valid tool’. Pictured a stock image of a police officer.
It was mainly used to look for weapons, he said.
‘We are focused on making sure we do it appropriately, we do it with dignity,’ he said.
The NSW government also issued its first apology as it is faced with a class action by 3000 individuals strip searched between 2018 and 2022.
‘I apologise. What happened to Ms Meredith – the police have already acknowledged – was unlawful and should not have happened to her,’ NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley told reporters.
Justice Dina Yehia found that police had no reasonable basis to use their strip-search powers against Ms Meredith after she was sniffed at by a drug detection dog.
No drugs were found and she was released after 30 minutes.
The finding has fuelled calls for the government to end strip searches based on drug possession, ban drug detection dogs at music events and end the criminalisation of drug use.
Several reports have noted the ineffectiveness of drug detection dogs, as far back as the NSW Ombudsman in 2006.
A rave attendee told a high-profile inquest in 2019 she was strip-searched by a police officer who falsely claimed ‘the dogs are never wrong so just tell me where the drugs are … If you don’t tell me … I’m going to make this nice and slow.’
Sniffer dogs will continue to be used by NSW Police at music festivals, despite several reports noting their ineffectiveness
The coroner noted police were not reserving strip searches for exceptional circumstances, as parliament had intended.
The judge awarded Ms Meredith $93,000 in damages for the misuse of police powers leading to her assault, battery and false imprisonment.
She will receive a further amount in exemplary damages for a systemic failure by NSW Police to properly train its officers in the use of strip searches.
‘With this decision and the government’s response to the drug summit due this week, there’s never been a better time for the premier to act,’ Greens MP and drug law reform spokesperson Cate Faehrmann told AAP.
But the new police commissioner insisted the canines remained an important resource.
‘We are very much focused on those that are supplying prohibited drugs,’ Lanyon said.
‘We have seen the terrible toll that drugs take at music festivals. We’ve seen young lives lost.
‘I think it’s really important that we do have sniffer dogs as a tool.’
About 3000 people have registered to Ms Meredith’s class action.
Their claims are yet to be determined by the court.
