Perhaps the “monster” in the room is that police routinely strip search people despite the Supreme Court saying they are not supposed to.
Because of a drawing of a picture of a gun to chase off “bad guys and monsters” by his four-year-old daughter, Jessie Sansone was arrested outside her school, handcuffed, hauled to a police station.
He was told to disrobe and subjected to a strip search in which his testicles were lifted and he was required to bend over.
It was egregious, invasive, unwarranted and unnecessary.
No matter how hard they try, Waterloo Regional Police’s strip-searching of the 26-year-old is indefensible and just plain wrong.
In fact a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 2001 clearly states “strip searches (are) inherently humiliating and degrading for detainees regardless of the manner in which they are carried out and for this reason they can’t be carried out simply as a matter of routine policy.”
But they happen all the time.
In one instance this month, it meant a drunk driving charge from 2010 was thrown out thanks to a smart defence lawyer using case law from the Supreme Court.
“What the community would find alarming is what I perceive as a systemic problem in the conduct of police strip searches of short-term detainees,” Justice J.M. Grossman said while staying proceedings against Regan McGee. “Despite the efforts of the judicial system to denounce such instances and the efforts of the police service boards to enact appropriate policy to guide the police, the right to be free from such significant intrusions into personal privacy and integrity is not being taken seriously enough.”
Systemic?
“I am left with the inevitable conclusion that the failure to abide by the constitutional limits for the strip search of short-term detainees is not an exceptional error on (a sergeant’s) part but rather is part of a larger more systemic problem,” said the judge. “It is clear to me that his practice is one which he not only generally follows but is an accepted one in his profession.”
The Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin reports in 2009 “Toronto police conducted 29,789 Level 3 searches (strip searches) and 31,072 in 2010.” Former Toronto mayor John Sewell says 60% of people arrested in Toronto face what “is certainly not a rare occurrence.”
Toronto Police Service’s Board Chair Dr. Alok Mukherjee is awaiting a report from Chief Bill Blair which upon completion will “ascertain whether the information ... merits any further consideration or action by the board.”
Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police spokesman Tim Smith confirmed that there “is no national standard” for strip searches and “it’s totally up to each individual service.”
But it isn’t.
That police don’t seem to oblige the high court might mean it’s time for a judicial inquiry to present clarity of the exact strip searching threshold?
With an Ottawa police officer before the courts, it’s also important for police, who also face scrutiny from the SIU — which has sexual assault as part of its mandate — to understand when an unlawful strip search crosses over to a sexual assault?
In Toronto, despite complaints from dozens of men and women during the G20 being strip searched but not charged, it has never been made public how many and if they were appropriate or constitutional?
In McGee’s case, defence counsel Calvin Barry successfully argued in his client’s case it was highly inappropriate. The judge agreed, calling it a “serious and flagrant” violation of the charter.
“Despite the considerable body of reported cases in which the courts have time and again frowned upon the way police have conducted such strip searches, it is apparent to me something is missing in their conduct whereby the rights of short-term detainees are not being taken seriously,” said Grossman. “Whether it is a lack of training or an attitude, I cannot say. However, to be frank, what I can say, is that the message does not appear to be getting through.”
It clearly did not get through to Waterloo Police since, in 2007, Joel Elliot, 32, was awarded $32,000 in damages after being strip searched. His naked body was made fun of and he was threatened with a stun gun.
It will be interesting to see if another monster cheque is one day written to the latest recipient of an inappropriate police strip search?
Perhaps it should be enough for his daughter to one day go to art school?
