❓ WA Parliamentary Question on Notice regarding the number of strip searches conducted by police between 2014-15 and 2018-19, broken down by demographics, region, and location type. The answer provides data derived from custodial episodes, noting limitations in recording practices for searches outside of custody.
AnsweredQoN 2653Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I
refer to strip searches undertaken by police, and I ask: (a) how
many strip searches were conducted in: (i) 2014-15; (ii) 2015-16; (iii) 2016-17; (iv) 2017-18; and (v) 2018-19; (b) for each year (a)(i) to (v), how many of those
searches were conducted on: (i) Aboriginal men; (ii) Aboriginal women; (iii) all women; and (iv) young people under the age of 18 years; (c) for
each year (a)(i) to (v), in which region were the searches conducted; and (d) for
each year (a)(i) to (v), how many searches were undertaken at: (i) a police station or watch house; and (ii) other location (please advise where)?
refer to strip searches undertaken by police, and I ask: (a) how
many strip searches were conducted in: (i) 2014-15; (ii) 2015-16; (iii) 2016-17; (iv) 2017-18; and (v) 2018-19; (b) for each year (a)(i) to (v), how many of those
searches were conducted on: (i) Aboriginal men; (ii) Aboriginal women; (iii) all women; and (iv) young people under the age of 18 years; (c) for
each year (a)(i) to (v), in which region were the searches conducted; and (d) for
each year (a)(i) to (v), how many searches were undertaken at: (i) a police station or watch house; and (ii) other location (please advise where)?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
4 December 2019
Responded by
Minister for Environment representing the Minister for Police
Response time
11 days
The Western Australian Police Force advise:
Strip searches are primarily conducted during custodial episodes and recorded in the Custodial Management Application. Therefore, custody strip search events have been used to answer questions (a), (b), (c) and (d) below.
Strip searches may be conducted by Western Australia Police Force officers in circumstances other than custody episodes; however, there is no systematic recording practice for these strip searches across systems and data holdings, and as a result they cannot be readily identified in all cases. On this basis, circumstances of strip searches outside of custody episodes have not been included in the counts provided. (a), (c)
Table 1. Number of strip searches conducted by police during a custody episode from 2014-15 to 2018-19 by region 1
Year
Metropolitan Region North
Metropolitan Region South
Regional WA
Unknown
Total
2014/15
12 278
2 708
6 488
141
21 615
2015/16
15 938
4 029
7 318
207
27 492
2016/17
18 736
4 749
8 675
209
32 369
2017/18
19 696
5 698
9 169
269
34 832
2018/19
20 458
6 126
8 591
309
35 484
(1) Region has been determined where practical from the free text location field. Therefore, the location information should be considered indicative only.
(b)
Table 2. Number of strip searches conducted by police during a custody episode on selected demographics from 2014-15 to 2018-19
Year
Aboriginal Males
Aboriginal Females
All Females
Persons Aged Under 18
2014/15
6 194
2 449
4 714
1 056
2015/16
7 771
3 156
6 117
1 203
2016/17
9 250
3 903
7 516
1 456
2017/18
10 262
4 506
8 303
1 867
2018/19
9 968
4 579
8 640
1 450
(d)
Table 3. Number of strip searches conducted by police during a custody episode from 2014/15 to 2018/19 by location type 1
Location
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
Police Facility 2
21 548
26 966
31 733
34 115
34 661
Airport
2
2
6
7
Breath and/or Drug Bus
1
1
1
36
46
Court
2
14
12
17
15
Hospital / Medical / Health Centre
4
30
35
32
33
Prison / Detention Centre
6
4
9
11
Other 3
60
473
582
617
711
Total
21 615
27 492
32 369
34 832
35 484
1. Location type has been determined based on a free text field. Therefore the location information should be considered indicative only.
2. WA Police Force facilities have been defined where the event location description indicates a police station, watch house, district office or special squad premise.
3. Other locations are those where the event location description does not provide any discernible information so as to include in any meaningful grouping. These are predominantly some form of street address.
Notes: 1) Statistics are provisional and subject to revision. 2) Western Australia Police Force defines the term ‘strip search’ as: An authorised officer(s) undertaking a search of a person under the Criminal Investigation Act 2006, (CIA), and may do any or all of the following: • Remove any article that the person is wearing including any article covering their private parts • Search any article removed • Search the person's external parts, including their private parts • Search the person's mouth but not any other orifice. 3) The term ‘custody’ refers to the process undertaken by WA Police Force to detain an individual which under the custodial operational philosophy is necessary to: • Secure the attendance of people for judicial processes; • Ensure the integrity of evidence (physical, identifying particulars and interview); or • Provide care to vulnerable people in a safe and secure environment where no alternative to police detention exists. 4) The count of strip searches conducted by WA Police Force has been derived from events recorded in the Custodial Management Application during a period of custody where the event description indicates that a strip search has taken place. The descriptions identified as relevant are: • Search – strip • Detainee search – strip • Other custodial event – strip search • Other custody event – strip search • Other custodial event – strip search conducted As this is a free text field, it is possible that a small number of strip searches have not been included where they have been recorded using a different description; however, analysis indicates that this margin would be less than 2%.
5) Section 135 Criminal Investigation Act 2006 provides authorised officers’ with a specific power to search certain persons who are in police custody for security risk items. A security risk item is defined in section 135 and includes things such as:
6) Strip searches may be conducted by police in other circumstances however there is no systematic recording practice and therefore these cannot be reliably identified. On this basis, circumstances outside of custody have not been included in the counts provided.
7) Aboriginality has been determined where a person’s stated ethnicity includes Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or if unspecified, this is based on an officer’s subjective assessment of ethnic appearance. 8) Gender is based on that stated by the detainee and (where possible), confirmed through identifying information. Counts of ‘male’ and ‘female’ include only those recorded as such and do not include events where the person has a recorded gender of ‘other’ , ‘trans man’ or ‘trans woman’. 9) Age has been determined based on the date of birth and the strip search event date. Cases where the date of birth is unknown have not been included in counts of persons under 18. 10) Location type and region of custody strip searches have been determined based on the free text location description. Therefore the location breakdowns provided should be considered indicative only. 11) Data includes that obtained from the retired Administration of JusticeApplication active between 2004 and September 2015 and the replacement application, the Custodial Management Application (CMA), introduced in September 2015. Significant changes in the custodial management process came into effect when the new CMA was introduced in September 2015 and therefore caution should be exercised when interpreting any CMA data over this break in time series.
Strip searches are primarily conducted during custodial episodes and recorded in the Custodial Management Application. Therefore, custody strip search events have been used to answer questions (a), (b), (c) and (d) below.
Strip searches may be conducted by Western Australia Police Force officers in circumstances other than custody episodes; however, there is no systematic recording practice for these strip searches across systems and data holdings, and as a result they cannot be readily identified in all cases. On this basis, circumstances of strip searches outside of custody episodes have not been included in the counts provided. (a), (c)
Table 1. Number of strip searches conducted by police during a custody episode from 2014-15 to 2018-19 by region 1
Year
Metropolitan Region North
Metropolitan Region South
Regional WA
Unknown
Total
2014/15
12 278
2 708
6 488
141
21 615
2015/16
15 938
4 029
7 318
207
27 492
2016/17
18 736
4 749
8 675
209
32 369
2017/18
19 696
5 698
9 169
269
34 832
2018/19
20 458
6 126
8 591
309
35 484
(1) Region has been determined where practical from the free text location field. Therefore, the location information should be considered indicative only.
(b)
Table 2. Number of strip searches conducted by police during a custody episode on selected demographics from 2014-15 to 2018-19
Year
Aboriginal Males
Aboriginal Females
All Females
Persons Aged Under 18
2014/15
6 194
2 449
4 714
1 056
2015/16
7 771
3 156
6 117
1 203
2016/17
9 250
3 903
7 516
1 456
2017/18
10 262
4 506
8 303
1 867
2018/19
9 968
4 579
8 640
1 450
(d)
Table 3. Number of strip searches conducted by police during a custody episode from 2014/15 to 2018/19 by location type 1
Location
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
Police Facility 2
21 548
26 966
31 733
34 115
34 661
Airport
2
2
6
7
Breath and/or Drug Bus
1
1
1
36
46
Court
2
14
12
17
15
Hospital / Medical / Health Centre
4
30
35
32
33
Prison / Detention Centre
6
4
9
11
Other 3
60
473
582
617
711
Total
21 615
27 492
32 369
34 832
35 484
1. Location type has been determined based on a free text field. Therefore the location information should be considered indicative only.
2. WA Police Force facilities have been defined where the event location description indicates a police station, watch house, district office or special squad premise.
3. Other locations are those where the event location description does not provide any discernible information so as to include in any meaningful grouping. These are predominantly some form of street address.
Notes: 1) Statistics are provisional and subject to revision. 2) Western Australia Police Force defines the term ‘strip search’ as: An authorised officer(s) undertaking a search of a person under the Criminal Investigation Act 2006, (CIA), and may do any or all of the following: • Remove any article that the person is wearing including any article covering their private parts • Search any article removed • Search the person's external parts, including their private parts • Search the person's mouth but not any other orifice. 3) The term ‘custody’ refers to the process undertaken by WA Police Force to detain an individual which under the custodial operational philosophy is necessary to: • Secure the attendance of people for judicial processes; • Ensure the integrity of evidence (physical, identifying particulars and interview); or • Provide care to vulnerable people in a safe and secure environment where no alternative to police detention exists. 4) The count of strip searches conducted by WA Police Force has been derived from events recorded in the Custodial Management Application during a period of custody where the event description indicates that a strip search has taken place. The descriptions identified as relevant are: • Search – strip • Detainee search – strip • Other custodial event – strip search • Other custody event – strip search • Other custodial event – strip search conducted As this is a free text field, it is possible that a small number of strip searches have not been included where they have been recorded using a different description; however, analysis indicates that this margin would be less than 2%.
5) Section 135 Criminal Investigation Act 2006 provides authorised officers’ with a specific power to search certain persons who are in police custody for security risk items. A security risk item is defined in section 135 and includes things such as:
6) Strip searches may be conducted by police in other circumstances however there is no systematic recording practice and therefore these cannot be reliably identified. On this basis, circumstances outside of custody have not been included in the counts provided.
7) Aboriginality has been determined where a person’s stated ethnicity includes Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or if unspecified, this is based on an officer’s subjective assessment of ethnic appearance. 8) Gender is based on that stated by the detainee and (where possible), confirmed through identifying information. Counts of ‘male’ and ‘female’ include only those recorded as such and do not include events where the person has a recorded gender of ‘other’ , ‘trans man’ or ‘trans woman’. 9) Age has been determined based on the date of birth and the strip search event date. Cases where the date of birth is unknown have not been included in counts of persons under 18. 10) Location type and region of custody strip searches have been determined based on the free text location description. Therefore the location breakdowns provided should be considered indicative only. 11) Data includes that obtained from the retired Administration of JusticeApplication active between 2004 and September 2015 and the replacement application, the Custodial Management Application (CMA), introduced in September 2015. Significant changes in the custodial management process came into effect when the new CMA was introduced in September 2015 and therefore caution should be exercised when interpreting any CMA data over this break in time series.
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