STRIP SEARCH VIOLATED PRIVACY RIGHTS

The way in which a strip search was done on a Surrey woman in the
Vancouver jail amounted to a "serious breach" of her civil rights, a
judge has ruled.

Cara Simone Douglas, 33, was driving along Kingsway one afternoon in
June 2002, coming from the hairdresser, when she was pulled over for
speeding.

She protested against police demanding to search her vehicle and,
after a tussle with two cops, was put in handcuffs and taken to jail.

After being strip-searched, Douglas was held overnight in jail. She
was released the next day after a bail hearing on a charge that she
had assaulted a police officer.

Douglas's lawyer, Richard Brooks, argued that the arrest and
subsequent strip search, part of the jail's policy of routine strip
searches, violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He applied for
a stay of proceedings.

In a 38-page ruling released yesterday, Vancouver Provincial Court
Judge Cathy Bruce found shortcomings in the jail's strip-search policy
but rejected the stay application.

Bruce found Douglas guilty of assault but granted her an absolute
discharge, noting she had "suffered enough" at the hands of
authorities and that she had no prior criminal record.

"On the one hand, a strip search is a humiliating, embarrassing and
degrading experience and the humiliation experienced by the prisoner
is compounded when the search is conducted in an unreasonable manner,
as occurred in this case," said the judge.

"While I have concluded the accused was properly the subject of a
strip search, clearly her privacy rights were violated by the way in
which the corrections staff executed the search."

The judge noted that the search was not carried out in private because
a window in the door facing into the hall was open and anyone passing
by could have seen into the strip-search cell.

Secondly, Douglas was ordered to disrobe entirely when a "proper
search" could have been conducted by having her remove her clothes in
stages, said the judge.

Finally, when she initially refused to strip down, a corrections
officer took out her handcuffs, an "implicit threat of force," Bruce
said.

Outside court, Brooks cited a section of the judgment that he believes
severely handcuffs the jail's strip-search policy.

"I'm gratified that [the judge] has, as I understand it, put a stop to
the routine strip search of people coming into that jail until the
officer in charge has made a determination that a particular person is
to be detained," said Brooks.

Douglas called the entire episode a "nightmare" -- a small incident
that got blown way out of hand.

"There was no reason to strip search me," she said. "I had nothing to
hide. They were just humiliating me."

An absolute discharge means Douglas will face no consequences and have
no criminal record.

Solicitor-General Rich Coleman said that despite the ruling, he would
go ahead with plans to introduce legislation next spring to entrench
strip searches as a corrections policy.

Coleman has said the legislation will protect the practice from
suggestions it contravenes the Charter, and that regulations will
allow the searches to be done until then.

He said he had only read an executive summary of Bruce's ruling -- not
the entire judgment.

Coleman said the searches are needed to catch items that might be a
threat to other prisoners or corrections staff, adding he was not
prepared to "put people's lives at risk" by forgoing searches that
might weed out weapons and drugs.