Illegal Strip Search?

[Ohiogal]

Well, there is no probable cause for the search in the first place without individualized suspicion. (The suspect did not go through the same thing.) But,


Was the female officer a medically trained personnel?

According to OP there was not a body cavity search as she had her underwear on at all times. That is where i am confused. She had underwear on and did squats.

 

[CdwJava]

While it seems inappropriate under the circumstances, the officers may have had good cause. Whether this is entirely permissible under VA law, I don't know.

Here is a VA statute covering this:

§ 19.2-59.1. Strip searches prohibited; exceptions; how strip searches conducted

A. No person in custodial arrest for a traffic infraction, Class 3 or Class 4 misdemeanor, or a violation of a city, county, or town ordinance, which is punishable by no more than thirty days in jail shall be strip searched unless there is reasonable cause to believe on the part of a law-enforcement officer authorizing the search that the individual is concealing a weapon. All strip searches conducted under this section shall be performed by persons of the same sex as the person arrested and on premises where the search cannot be observed by persons not physically conducting the search.

B. A regional jail superintendent or the chief of police or the sheriff of the county or city shall develop a written policy regarding strip searches.

C. A search of any body cavity must be performed under sanitary conditions and a search of any body cavity, other than the mouth, shall be conducted either by or under the supervision of medically trained personnel.

D. Strip searches authorized pursuant to the exceptions stated in subsection A of this section shall be conducted by a law-enforcement officer as defined in § 9.1-101.

E. The provisions of this section shall not apply when the person is taken into custody by or remanded to a law-enforcement officer pursuant to a circuit or district court order.

F. For purposes of this section, "strip search" shall mean having an arrested person remove or arrange some or all of his clothing so as to permit a visual inspection of the genitals, buttocks, anus, female breasts, or undergarments of such person.

G. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a sheriff or a regional jail superintendent from requiring that inmates take hot water and soap showers and be subjected to visual inspection upon assignment to the general population area of the jail or upon determination by the sheriff or regional jail superintendent that the inmate must be held at the jail by reason of his inability to post bond after reasonable opportunity to do so.​

It would appear that on its face, there is no statutory support for this search.

 

[rebeccainak]

The search you experienced is not a strip search. I'm not sure what it would be called but a strip search is the removal of all clothing, to include underware. It is also no where near a body cavity search.

You can bet that your friend has been strip searched at the jail. If he wasn't able to bail out in the jails time frame he would have been stripped out and dressed in jail clothes.

The only agency I know of that consistantly does not- and as a matter of fact,dings us for doing so - is Immigration. Immigration always insists their detanies- and yes, we hold them for ICE- not be strip searched. We do it anyway.

 

[xylene]

We do it anyway.

You should be proud of degrading non-citizens.

 

[CdwJava]

The search you experienced is not a strip search.

Actually, it is.

Under VA law it is defined as: ""strip search" shall mean having an arrested person remove or arrange some or all of his clothing so as to permit a visual inspection of the genitals, buttocks, anus, female breasts, or undergarments of such person."

Unfortunately for the police, the person was not under arrest, so it would seem they jumped the gun on this.

 

[tranquility]

According to OP there was not a body cavity search as she had her underwear on at all times.

Yet, she said:

When she arrived I was taken to the bathroom and told to remove all my clothing except my underwear and was asked to squat and cough 4 times.

The federal rules as expressed in Amaechi v. West, 237 F. 3d 356 (2001):

For purposes of analyzing whether West was on notice that his search of Amaechi was unlawful, we agree with the district court that precedent outlining limitations on the right to conduct strip searches are relevant. A strip search under federal law includes the exposure of a person's naked body for the purpose of a visual or physical examination. See United States v. Dorlouis, 107 F.3d 248, 256 (4th Cir.1997) (treating the act of pulling down a suspect's trousers, while leaving his boxer shorts intact, as a strip search and equating "an unconstitutional strip search" with "an unnecessarily intrusive search"); United States v. Vance, 62 F.3d 1152, 1156 (9th Cir.1995) (treating pulling down a suspect's trousers and underwear in public as a strip search); United States v. Cardenas, 9 F.3d 1139, 1145 (5th Cir. 1993) (noting that directing a suspect to undress amounts to a strip search). A body cavity search under federal law includes a visual or physical examination into the body's recesses. See Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 558, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979).

What was the purpose of the squat and cough?

 

[tracey610]

The female deputy told me I had to remove all clothing and I stripped down to my thong which was see through. I told her I was on my period and I would not be removing my thong at all. She then put on gloves. When I asked her what they were for, she said--'I need to make sure you do have anything up in you'. I then began crying hysterically. After that she just said squat and cough. She then made me stand up then squat and cough again---a total of 4 times.


And I have talked to my friend on the phone several times and he assures me he was NOT strip searched at any time.....even at the jail. He said they watched as he took a shower but that was it.

 

[tracey610]

From what I have been reading, strip searches are for those who are arrested...correct?
I was specifically told several times I was not under arrest. They just kept asking me where the drugs were and kept telling me that I couldnt leave until they were sure I wasnt hiding the drugs on my person.
Funny thing is, I had my purse beside me and they never asked to look in my purse or my car (which was just outside the room) .....just wanted me to strip down to show them I didnt have drugs on me.
They told me they had all day and night to wait for me to 'strip down'.....they even asked if they could watch TV while we were waiting because they said 'we are gonna be here for awhile so we all might as well get comfortable'.

 

[tranquility]

Look, this is not easy stuff. There is a complex interaction of many issues coming together in a single moment which create a problematical situation that is difficult to resolve not just in your instance, but all instances. Not only that, we're getting into pure hypothetical discussion because we don't know the police side of the story. I think it entirely possible there could be a factual predicate for the police to act as they did. And, even if what the FEDERAL agents did was against STATE law, they didn't really act in the outrageous manner many of the cases regarding strip searches do. You weren't on the street in public, they didn't have a member of the opposite sex do a physical search with insertion and any number of other things some stupid or evil cop did. I wouldn't be surprised if they followed their agency procedure in the way they did the search.

You need an attorney with knowledge of all the facts to advise you on your situation. With the story you've told us so far, any civil rights attorney will at least listen to your claim to see if they want to get involved. Get an attorney.

But, saying all that, the police are allowed to detain you for a reasonable investigation if they have a reasonable suspicion you are involved with a crime. If in that reasonable investigation they reasonably believe that evidence of the crime they reasonably suspect you of for reasonable reasons is secreted on your body (Or suitcase, or whatever) they may be said to have "probable cause" to search, um, reasonably.

However, some searches, because of the intrusion, need to have a judge review the reasonableness to see if there is probable cause. Sometimes, specific statutes otherwise empower such searches. But, the cops are not going to do surgery to evacuate a person's stomach to get the joint they believe he swallowed because that wouldn't be---(come on, you know what I'm going to say)--reasonable.

I certainly believe they coerced your consent. But, that is a difficult issue too. If they did find something on you, that may rise to a 4th amendment violation and might be excluded, but how does that translate to damages? The question will be if consent was needed in the first place, and, if so, did the actions of the police make your consent involuntary? I could go on, but they write law review and journal articles on small portions of this area of the law affecting your set of facts. SSRN may have some good ones.

 

[tracey610]

Understood. Thanks so much for your information and time.

One more thing, is there any way to get my hands on the written account of what the police say happened while executing the warrant?

 

[tranquility]

Yes, but not at this time. You will have to see an attorney. Once he agrees to represent you he will do formal and informal discovery and you will get the reports turned over then.