POLICE — STRIP
SEARCHES
1265. Hon ALISON XAMON to the minister representing the
Minister for Police:
I refer to the current New South
Wales inquiry into strip searches undertaken in the field, rather than searches
conducted in police stations or watch houses.
(1) What criteria
are required to be satisfied in order for the Western Australia Police Force to
lawfully undertake strip searches in the field?
(2) How many field strip searches
were conducted in 2018–19?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by
the Minister for Police. The Western Australia Police Force advises the following.
(1) Strip searching is conducted on a high-risk
person. These are persons who are considered at risk of self-harm or
possessing security risk items, such as weapons. The second reason is for
evidentiary purposes. Powers are given under the Criminal Investigation Act
2006: section 64 defines strip search; section 70 defines police
responsibilities; section 72 defines the rules for conducting a strip search;
and section 135 defines certain persons who
can be searched. All strip searches are conducted in circumstances affording
reasonable privacy to the person.
(2) This type of
data is not readily available for reporting from within the WA Police Force
custodial management application.