In controversial news, last Wednesday NSW Police conducted drug strip searches at Central station, calling over random commuters in the late afternoon.

Areas were set-up with ‘privacy screens’ and sniffer dogs used by the police to conduct their assessments. And many a commuter have commented on the intimidating and invasive nature of the police’s approach.

Now our question is, is this lawful?

There has been significant push-back against NSW Police following the events of last week, with solicitors and Greens MP David Shoebridge calling this a breach of police strip-searching powers.

And given the high error-rates of sniffer dogs, and the inaccuracy that belies most searches, the necessity of these procedures seems questionable.

Tess spoke with Redfern Legal Centre’s police powers solicitor, Samantha Lee.