Pubdate: Wed, 16 Nov 2005
Source: Eureka Reporter, The (US CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Eureka Reporter
Contact:  http://www.eurekareporter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3289
Author: Christine Bensen-Messinger

WOMAN CLAIMING ILLEGAL STRIP SEARCH SUES SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Attorney Mark Merin has filed a class-action lawsuit against the 
Humboldt County Sheriff's Office for what he alleged is the practice 
of "illegal strip searches."

Humboldt County Sheriff Gary Philp said his office follows the law 
pertaining to strip searches and pat-downs.

"Ms. (Ellin) Spellman, who is the plaintiff in this case, was up 
vacationing with a girlfriend (on the North Coast)," Merin said. "She 
was pulled over for driving (with a blood alcohol level) over the 
legal limit ... and she was over the legal limit."

On Sept. 23, 2004, Spellman, 23, and her friend were stopped on their 
way back to the campsite where they were staying in Garberville, said 
Merin, a Sacramento-based attorney.

Her friend, whom Merin alleged was much more inebriated than 
Spellman, was driven back to the campsite by deputies. Merin said 
Spellman was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of 
drugs and/or alcohol and driven by sheriff's deputies to the Humboldt 
County jail in Eureka.

"All they were going to do was hold her for four hours or so until 
she sobered up," Merin said. "While she was in the jail she was 
subjected to a strip search ... so her body could be examined. The 
way it was done was a little unusual. They had her strip down several 
items in the presence of men."

Merin said Spellman was told she could keep one item of clothing, not 
including a bra, on the top half of her body while she was being held.

"They claim ... that security concerns require that they have people 
in their custody strip down to only one item of clothing on their 
top," Merin said.

Philp said that is true.

"We would give them the option to choose (the item) out of 
convenience for them," Philp said.

Merin said Spellman wasn't wearing a bra, but she had a tank top 
underneath her outer layers of clothing and did not want to sit in 
the area in a tank top, thus, she had to take off her tank top and 
put on another shirt while a female deputy stood with her and two 
male deputies stood elsewhere in the room.

He said her back was to the male deputies.

"She felt extremely uncomfortable," Merin said. "She's a young woman 
and she is not in the habit of stripping in mixed company."

Typically, Merin said, strip searches are not done on individuals who 
are arrested for minor, nonviolent crimes if there is not reasonable 
cause to believe that they may have weapons or contraband.

Philp said he agrees and said a strip search is not the same as the 
standard pat-down and removal of extra layers of clothing.

In a situation such as the one Spellman was in, Philp said a person 
is given a private area to change in or typically a deputy of the 
same gender will hold up a blanket or stand in front of the person 
while he or she changes.

"We would not expose a person to the general ogling of officers or 
other persons in the area," he said, noting that he cannot comment on 
Spellman's allegations because they are the subject of a lawsuit.

As defined in the jail's policies and procedures, a strip search 
"requires a person to remove or arrange his or her clothing to permit 
a visual inspection of the underclothing, breast, buttocks or 
genitalia of such person."

"If there are certain allegations of violence or narcotics, (a 
person) may be strip searched," Philp said.

If an officer thinks a strip search is necessary, the officer must 
fill out an affidavit that needs to be reviewed and approved by a 
shift manager, Philp said.

"They're fairly rare, I'd have to say," he said. "There have to be 
extenuating circumstances. We do pat-down searches and if someone has 
layers of clothing, they will have to remove some layers."

If a strip search is conducted, it is done with two officers of the 
same gender as the person being patted down present and it is a 
visual search, Philp said.

Cavity searches are done by medical personnel, he added.

Merin said he is also concerned about the loss of a videotape that 
was made of the incident.

"They said it was all videotaped. ... Well, the videotape ended up 
disappearing and we never got to see it," he said.

Philp said there are cameras in the area that would have caught the 
incident on tape, but that the footage had been taped over as was 
standard procedure.

"Certainly, if we thought there was (an issue) and someone made a 
complaint at the time, we would save (the tape) and look it over," he 
said. "In this instance the system wrote it over."

The system has since been upgraded, Philp said.

"We've added some cameras and we're extending the time period before 
the tapes are (written) over," he said.

The case is expected to go to trial within the next year and others 
have joined the suit, although only Spellman is named in it, Merin said.

"We are seeking an injunction against the continuation of the illegal 
practices a€" that is, they will have to stop strip searching people 
without reasonable suspicion (that those subjected) are carrying 
contraband or weapons," Merin said. "We are seeking compensatory 
damages for all people strip searched illegally at the Humboldt 
County jail in the last three years a€" two years before the filing 
of the complaint, Feb. 8. It's the public's job to demand that the 
facilities be run in a constitutional way and hopefully in Humboldt 
County it will be."

"We're well aware of what the requirements are," Philp said, adding 
that they are followed. "It should be pretty standard in other agencies, too."

An attorney from Mitchell, Brisso, Delaney and Vrieze, the law firm 
which is representing the Sheriff's Office in this matter, was not 
available by deadline.
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