The statistics -- obtained under freedom of information laws by non-profit community legal organization Redfern Legal Center -- show that 122 girls aged 12 to 17 were strip searched in New South Wales between 2016 and 2019.Overall, almost 4,000 girls and women of all ages were strip searched over that period, with the most common reason being to search for drugs.
But Samantha Lee, the head of police accountability practice at Redfern Legal Center, said the legal thresholds were insufficient, and the law should be changed to prohibit the strip searching of children without a court order. In a press conference Wednesday, Elliot defended the rules, saying one third of the people who had been searched had been found guilty of committing an offense.