PUBLIC PROBE ORDERED INTO STRIP SEARCH

Two Halifax women strip-searched by police at a Halifax rave last year are
finally getting an independent public hearing.

Aimee Kindervater and Aleashia Stanley filed multiple complaints against
three Halifax Regional Police officers last February, claiming a sergeant
and two constables were out of line when they forced the girls to disrobe.

On Jan. 29, 2000, drug-squad members raided a Maitland Street dance hall
known as The Underground - the same building that collapsed yesterday.

The raid was based on an unreliable tip that a jar of ecstasy and 200 vials
of the date-rape drug GHB were hidden in the ceiling.

While executing a search warrant on the warehouse before the all-night
dance party started, police herded 40 rave employees into the middle of the
main dance floor.

The staff members - including minors - were then individually taken into
washrooms to be searched.

Kindervater and Stanley were among several women forced to take their
clothes off, despite not being named in the search warrant.

During the two-hour search, investigators seized two small bags of
marijuana and an assortment of unidentified pills. No charges were laid.

Feeling their rights had been infringed, Kindervater and Stanley filed
complaints against the officers. A city cop assigned to look into the
complaints concluded the officers did nothing wrong.

But a Nova Scotia Police Commission investigator has concluded a public
hearing is warranted.

The girls' lawyer Walter Thompson said last night the complaints could have
been resolved informally, had the police department been willing to admit
wrongdoing and offer an apology.

"The girls aren't looking for sanctions or money. It's the principle,"
Thompson said.

"They are good women who feel they have been violated by the law, and they
want that acknowledged."

No hearing dates have been set, but Thompson expects the matter to begin
sometime this spring.