© Getty Images

NSW Police - NSW Police have excluded festival-goers from attending a music festival even though they passed a strip search and all drug tests.

© Getty Images

Sniffer dog - Police sniffer dogs indicated people by sitting next to them, giving the police reason to suspect they were in possession of illegal drugs.

© Getty Images

Testing - Usually, this leads to the police testing and searching the person. If found in possession then they are dealt with, if not, they are let go.

© Getty Images

Above & Beyond - According to News.com.au, an Above & Beyond festival-goer was not only prohibited from attending but also banned from the venue for six months.

© Getty Images

Indicated - A sniffer dog indicated, the person was strip-searched and drug tested, but they didn't find anything on this particular individual.

© Getty Images

Penalised - Despite no evidence of illegality, the festival-goer was turned away from the music event that cost $128 a ticket and further penalised. 

© Getty Images

Statement - Pior to the event, NSW Police issued a statement about the strategy they would be implementing at Above & Beyond festival.

© Getty Images

Regardless - It stated, "Police will exclude any person from the venue that the drug dog indicates has or who has recently had drugs on them, regardless of whether drugs are located."

© Getty Images

Previous - NSW Police have allegedly used this strategy at two previous events, including Midnight Mafia in May, and State of Trance in April.

© Getty Images

MDMA - At the Midnight Mafia event police found 1600 MDMA caps on one woman according to Triple J's HACK.

© Shutterstock

Disrupting - NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell told HACK, "This is not about disrupting a particular individual's night but if they are trying to take drugs or have them in their possession then we will disrupt it".

© Getty Images

Denied - "If someone is stopped by police and searched as a result of an indication by a PAD dog, but then found not to be possessing illicit drugs, they may still be denied entry," NSW Police said.

© Getty Images

Organisers - They continued, "This will be at the discretion of event organisers in consultation with police."

© Getty Images

Accepted - Event promoter Richie McNeill told HACK they accepted the plan allowing police to deny entry with only an indication from a sniffer dog. He also said, "We have to or there's no event basically."

© iStock

Alarm - McNeill expressed his alarm when finding out what the success rate was for drug detection dogs.

© Getty Images

False positives - The average false positives for drug detection dogs is 80% according to Sydney Morning Herald.

© Getty Images

Complaints - There have been dozens of complaints about the method police have taken at these festivals in regard to denying entry despite negative drug tests and searches.

© Getty Images

Sniff Off - According to Music Feeds, the Greens' Sniff Off collective took NSW Police to court before Above & Beyond festival because they believed their strategy was a "clear abuse of police powers".

© Getty Images

Judge denied - "We don’t waste our time with hypothetical issues like that," Justice Pembroke told the court, as reported by Music Feeds.

© Getty Images

Justification - He continued, "If I may say so, the prospect your client will be evicted from the concert is hardly justification for bringing this claim in advance".

© Getty Images

Outrage - Since the event has come and gone,  festival customers are outraged with the result, Sniff Off plan to seek legal action with the number of complaints they have received.

© Getty Images

Volunteers - According to SBS, Sniff Off volunteers handed out flyers outside the venue to inform festival-goers about the detection dog program and advice to anyone pulled aside by police.

© Getty Images

Stopped - Police cited a 2012 regulation governing the entire Sydney Olympic Park precinct and stopped volunteers from distributing flyers. In response activist Tom Raue said, "We want people to be informed, clearly they don't".

© Getty Images

Safety - The Greens said if safety for revellers were a concern for police then they might instead advocate for pill testing and harm-minimisation approaches.

© Getty Images

Civil liberties - According to HACK, criminal lawyer Greg Goold said: "There's nothing in the Act which would provide a power for the police department to refuse a person access to a concert because they've raised suspicion of drug detection".

© Getty Images

Vicinity - He continued, "That [dog indication] could have been caused by someone having a joint in their vicinity and the smell catching in their clothing."

© Getty Images

"Should be free to go" - "But once that search has been carried and nothing has been found ... the person should be free to go," Goold said.

© Getty Images

Over-reach - Greens MP David Shoebridge also criticised the practice saying, "This is an extraordinary case of police over-reach".

© Getty Images

Public place - He said, "They're effectively saying they're going to make it a crime to be a young person in a public place in NSW." Shoebridge said they are interested in taking further legal action.

© Getty Images

"Defend their rights" - "We have people willing to join in legal action to defend their rights, and video footage of many encounters and this will be closely reviewed by the lawyers this week."

© Getty Images