PUBLIC STRIP SEARCH SHOCKING

You are driving down the streets of Bakersfield. The lamp over your license
plate is burned out and police officers stop your car.

How would you feel if in the course of this traffic stop you found yourself
in the back of a patrol car with your pants down and an officer using a
flashlight to examine your rear end?

How would you feel if the examination could be viewed by people walking or
driving by?

Couldn't happen to you. Couldn't happen in Bakersfield. Think again.

A complaint filed against the Police Department by two Bakersfield men
details a traffic stop that began with a burned-out lamp, included a search
of the vehicle for weapons and drugs by officers and a narcotic-sniffing
dog, and ended with on-the-scene strip searches.

Neither man was arrested and no contraband was found. The driver ended up
with citations for the lamp and not having proof of insurance.

To be fair to the officers and their suspicions, it should be noted that
both men have criminal records for drug-related offenses. One is on parole
and the other probation.

As a result, they are subject to stops and searches that other citizens
might not encounter.

But the incident has exposed more than the men's butts. It has exposed a
Police Department that seems to believe strip-searching citizens in the
field -- in public view -- is OK. It has exposed a department with no
written procedures to govern the practice and no records of how often these
strip searches are occurring.

Give credit to Chief Eric Matlock, who says he is taking the complaint
seriously and will be thoroughly investigating the incident.

But interviews with other law enforcement agencies in the state have
revealed that strip searches in the field are rarely, if ever conducted.
Most strip searches are conducted after a suspect's arrest, or in a
location that affords privacy to the suspect.

The two men filing the complaint, who are black, contend they were targeted
because of their race. This, too, is a serious accusation that Bakersfield
Police officials say they will investigate.

But if race was not a factor, was status is the community? Would a
prominent Bakersfield resident need to fear such embarrassing and invasive
searches? Would a woman?

Tightening policies and procedures governing strip searches must not await
the conclusion of a thorough investigation of the filed complaint.

Police officials must:

- - Develop written procedures governing what should be rare in-field strip
searches.

- - Require the approval of a supervisor before such searches are conducted.

- - Require such searches to be documented and justified by the filing of a
report detailing the circumstances, reason for the search and its outcome.
This would also include maintaining statistics as to the number of searches
conducted.

The legality of these searches is debated, with some law enforcement
officials and prosecutors contending the police are within their right to
strip search a suspect in public -- on the streets of Bakersfield. Some
defense attorneys believe otherwise.

But the bottom line is that all people who live in Bakersfield -- those
considered the upper crust, as well has those viewed differently -- are
entitled to respect.

Being told to drop your drawers and bend over for a strip search in public
is not respectful. It is simply not right.