New South Wales Consolidated Acts

LAW ENFORCEMENT (POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES) ACT 2002 - SECT 32

32 Preservation of privacy and dignity during search

(1) A police officer or other person who searches a person must, as far as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, comply with this section.

(2) The police officer or other person must inform the person to be searched of the following matters:

(a) whether the person will be required to remove clothing during the search,

(b) why it is necessary to remove the clothing.

(3) The police officer or other person must ask for the person’s co-operation.

(4) The police officer or other person must conduct the search:

(a) in a way that provides reasonable privacy for the person searched, and

(b) as quickly as is reasonably practicable.

(5) The police officer or other person must conduct the least invasive kind of search practicable in the circumstances.

(6) The police officer or other person must not search the genital area of the person searched, or in the case of female or a transgender person who identifies as a female, the person’s breasts unless the police officer or person suspects on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to do so for the purposes of the search.

(7) A search must be conducted by a police officer or other person of the same sex as the person searched or by a person of the same sex under the direction of the police officer or other person concerned.

(8) A search of a person must not be carried out while the person is being questioned. If questioning has not been completed before a search is carried out, it must be suspended while the search is carried out.

(9) A person must be allowed to dress as soon as a search is finished.

(10) If clothing is seized because of the search, the police officer or other person must ensure the person searched is left with or given reasonably appropriate clothing.

(11) In this section:
"questioning" of a person means questioning the person, or carrying out an investigation (in which the person participates).
"transgender person" means a person, whether or not the person is a recognised transgender person:

(a) who identifies as a member of the opposite sex, by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the opposite sex, or

(b) who has identified as a member of the opposite sex by living as a member of the opposite sex, or

(c) who, being of indeterminate sex, identifies as a member of a particular sex by living as a member of that sex,

and includes a reference to the person being thought of as a transgender person, whether or not the person is, or was, in fact a transgender person.