Pubdate: Fri, 07 Nov 2003 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Keith Fraser and Ian Bailey 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek