STRIP-SEARCH DECISION APPEALED

Halifax Regional Police won't be disciplining the officers involved in
a controversial strip-search performed last February at a downtown
rave.

"We find none of the actions of these officers constitutes
discreditable conduct or abuse of authority," Insp. Cliff Falkenham
and Staff-Sgt. Frank Chambers concluded in their seven-page internal
police report.

Drug investigators raided The Underground, a Maitland Street
warehouse, Jan. 29 on a tip there would be 200 vials of the date-rape
drug GHB and a jar of ecstasy pills hidden above the ceiling tiles.

With the exception of a handful of unidentified pills, the raid was a
bust. Controversy arose after 40 people preparing for the all-night
dance party were subjected to strip-searches.

Amiee Kindervater was one of those searched. Initially, the easy-going
rave veteran admitted rolling with the punches when ordered to strip.

But after a few days of soul-searching, she felt what police did was
wrong, and filed a complaint.

"Unbelievable," was Kindervater's reaction when she received the
decision by registered mail last week.

She has already filed an appeal to the Nova Scotia Police Review
Board, which will assign its own investigator to the case.

The independent adjudicator can then recommend a public
hearing.

Drug investigators relied on five grounds to justify the
strip-searches, the report says.

Among those was the fact "police could smell the odor of cannabis
marijuana (smoke) on the dance floor and outside the security office."

They also said a table set up with pamphlets containing information on
how to use illegal substances caused concern.

"The organizers of the rave allowing these pamphlets on the premises
would lead a reasonable person to assume there could be illegal drugs
on the premises or persons therein," the report said.

That statement infuriated Kindervater. "The pamphlets are not there
to tell you how to use drugs. Most of the information is related to
how to spot overdoses, what to do, what the consequences of doing this
stuff is."

Kindervater's lawyer, Walter Thompson, said he wasn't surprised by the
findings.

"I was always skeptical about the police doing their own
investigation, because I didn't feel that there would be an
independent mind brought to bear.

"That skepticism is justified, and I have faith in the police
commission to now give us a good hearing on the law."