Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jul 2012 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2012 Postmedia Network Inc. Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html Website: http://www.theprovince.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Keith Fraser JUDGE'S RULING CHALLENGED Cop Who Searched Suspect at Gas Bar Shouldn't Be Cleared Police complaint commissioner Stan Lowe is seeking to quash a decision by a retired judge to clear an Abbotsford cop of wrongdoing in the strip search of a female suspect in a gas station washroom. In December, retired Provincial Court judge William Diebolt concluded Const. Karen Burridge was acting in good faith in her strip search of Jocelyn Gowland. The decision related to an incident in August 2009 when Burridge and another officer were moving a prisoner from hospital to police cells. The prisoner told the cops that he recognized Gowland as being a drug dealer, resulting in the police pulling over Gowland on South Fraser Way, near a PetroCan station. Burridge and two other cops noticed the odour of marijuana coming from Gowland's vehicle and ran a search on her in the police computer, finding that she was awaiting trial on trafficking charges. They searched her vehicle and found no drugs. Burridge told Gowland she would have to undergo a strip search. Burridge claimed that Gowland replied, 'Go ahead, you won't find anything.' Gowland claimed that she did not consent to the search. The strip search was conducted in the PetroCan washroom with only Gowland and Burridge present. No drugs were found, no charges laid and Gowland was allowed to leave. Gowland filed a complaint in February 2011 and an Abbotsford police review concluded that Gowland's rights were violated but that there was no misconduct by police. But Lowe appointed Diebolt to conduct another review. In his report, Diebolt questioned Gowland's credibility and said the strip search was conducted in an appropriate manner. But in a petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Lowe said Diebolt erred in applying the law when he held that Burridge had reasonable and probable grounds to conduct the search, and when he applied the doctrine of good faith in the decision to conduct the strip search. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom