WOMAN MAY APPEAL STRIP-SEARCH RULING

One Of The Women Strip-searched At A Rave A Year Ago May Re-open Her
Complaint Against Police.

Aimee Kindervater complained to the Nova Scotia Police Commission after she
and and her friend, Aleashia Stanley, were strip searched during a search
for drugs.

They lost their case. But a Supreme Court of Canada ruling narrowing the
use of strip searches may spark her to try again.

"Quite possibly (I'll appeal). But I have to look at everything, the time
it takes, the money, before I decide if it's really worth it," she said.

Kindervater said her case took a toll on her emotionally, as well as on her
time. She said it took nearly a year to wind its way through the system,
forcing her to miss work and cancel a vacation.

The Supreme Court has ruled police had no automatic right to strip search a
Toronto drug dealer even though they had watched two drug transactions
before arresting him. They found cocaine hidden in his buttocks.

Kindervater and Stanley were working at a rave in January 2000, when police
arrived with a search warrant. They had been told that the building's owner
had hidden drugs in the ceiling tiles.

The two young women were among several told to remove their clothes in a
washroom so police could search them for drugs. They didn't find any drugs
and no charges were laid. Halifax Regional Police plan to develop a formal
procedure for strip searches.