STRIP SEARCH REJECTED

A 33-year-old woman has been acquitted of drug trafficking after a
provincial court judge found City Police violated her rights during her May
2002 arrest.

Kimberly Ann Lafond was found not guilty Tuesday in Prince Albert provincial
court of possession for the purposes of trafficking.

"The violations (of Lafond's rights) here went far beyond ones of a mere
technical nature and were extremely serious," Judge Rosemary Weisgerber
wrote in her 56-page decision.

Specifically, Weisgerber found police did not have a right to arrest Lafond
after pulling over the van she was riding in. Weisgerber said a strip search
and subsequent body cavity search were also unjustified.

Weisgerber said police should have gotten a search warrant or Lafond's
informed consent before having a doctor search her.

"It is clear that a body cavity search ranks at the highest end of the
continuum for intrusiveness and thereby calls for a correspondingly high
degree of justification for its use," Weisgerber wrote.

"I am satisfied that the accused believed that she had no choice but to
submit to the body cavity searches."

The decision relates to evidence presented at Lafond's trial in October.

On May 9, 2002, City Police pulled over a van in downtown Prince Albert
after receiving a confidential tip about the possibility of drugs inside.

Lafond, who was in the van, was charged after a balloon with 94 dilaudid
tablets was allegedly found inside her rectum.

Weisgerber said police were justified in acting quickly on the tip. However,
they should have gotten more information about the source and reliability of
the tip before detaining and searching Lafond, she said.

"In my view, the presence of the factors indicated above, without more, are
insufficient to support a finding that the police officer in this case was
in possession of information that went beyond mere suspicion and would
constitute reasonable and probable grounds for arresting the accused,"
Weisgerber said.

Weisgerber also acquitted Lafond of a charge of possession of a controlled
substance.

Defence lawyer Val Harvey argued that two marijuana cigarettes found near
Lafond's purse inside the van did not mean they belonged to Lafond.

An application by the Crown to seize the $670 found on Lafond when she was
arrested was denied as well, based on her acquittal.

Dilaudid is used as a painkiller. However, the tablets are also used by IV
users since they are easily dissolvable and leave little residue inside
needles. They have a high street value and sell for about $20 a pill.