Pubdate: Mon, 02 Feb 2015 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2015 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Page: A10 MAKE IT RARE, NOT ROUTINE A legal challenge alleging that strip searches by Toronto police discriminate against aboriginal people is shining yet another spotlight on a vexing issue that has been before the Toronto Police Services Board since 2002. Lawyers for Toronto resident Megan Anoquot - who has been strip-searched more than once - are arguing that police employ a "stereotypical approach and systematically strip search Aboriginals rather than engaging in a case-by-case basis." The courts will decide the merit of her case. But Anoquot is not alone in challenging the frequency with which Toronto police conduct strip searches. And that's a good thing, because the statistics are alarmingly high. The most recent figures presented to the police services board by Chief Bill Blair, in fact, indicated that in 2013 strip searches were conducted in more than a third of all arrests. That's down from 2010, when strip searches were conducted in fully 60 per cent of arrests. Still, both figures appear well out of line with a 2001 Supreme Court decision which ruled that strip searches are "inherently humiliating and degrading" and should be rare, not routine. No wonder, then, that the high frequency of strip searches by Toronto police is coming under increasing criticism: Gerry McNeilly, Ontario's Independent Police Review Director, said in 2013 he was "deeply troubled by what appears to be a general over-use of strip searches by the Toronto Police Service and the routine strip searches of youths." Retired judge John W. Morden's 2012 report on mass arrests of mostly innocent people at the G20 summit in Toronto called for an investigation into the high incidence of invasive strip searches. And the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, a citizens' group, says the police services board must "devise a policy which will protect Toronto residents from being degraded and humiliated by unnecessary strip searches." It argues that these invasive searches should occur in only about 5 per cent of arrests. Of course, strip searches do have a place in good policing. They are conducted to ensure safety and find evidence. Chief Blair's report indicated that evidence (such as drugs) was found in just over 1 per cent of the 20,152 strip searches carried out from January to November of 2013. Objects that could harm the person who was arrested, another person in custody or a police officer, or be used to escape, were found in 43 per cent of those searches. According to police, those objects included marijuana, cocaine, chains, belts, earrings, lighters, watches, hair ties, money and lip balm. These are all items the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition argues would have turned up with a simple pat-down. Chief Blair strongly defends the searches, saying they follow procedures set out by the police services board, including that a supervisor must approve each search. A spot check requested by the board backs him up on that point: an investigation by the Toronto Police Audit and Quality Assurance section of 175 strip searches between June15 and Aug.15 of last year found that all were "justified and lawful and no misconduct was found." But that's not the concern. As board chair Alok Mukherjee said recently, the worry isn't with the rules under which searches are carried out, but with their frequency. He wondered if senior officers are granting approval for strip searches too freely. As far back as1999, a report on strip searches by the police services board stressed that "everyone has the right to protection against an unreasonable search." As the Star argued back then: "The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees it. Common decency and respect demand it." Our view has not changed. After more than a dozen years of debate, the police board needs to stop putting off decisions on this important human rights issue and adhere to the spirit of the 2001 Supreme Court decision. Strip searches should be rare, not routine. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt