The NSW Police Force has been accused of failing to follow its internal policies on sniffer dogs after mandatory standard operating procedures were revealed for the first time.

Days after a coronial inquest into music festival deaths condemned the widespread use of strip searches to detect drug possession, Redfern Legal Centre has obtained documents under freedom of information laws that outline the standard operational procedures detection dog handlers "must adhere to".

Solicitor Samantha Lee, head of police accountability at Redfern Legal, said NSW Police took the centre to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal to prevent the procedures being made public for the first time.

The documents state a positive detection "DOES NOT on its own provide police with the power to search" and does not constitute "reasonable grounds" to conduct a search upon an individual.