Judge blasts OPP for ‘egregious’ strip search

Woman has impaired driving charge stayed because officers forced her to remove bra

As Ontario’s police watchdog continues its systemic review of police strip search practices across the province, a Belleville judge has sharply criticized an OPP detachment for failing to follow the law around the controversial practice.

Ontario Court Justice Elaine Deluzio stayed impaired driving charges last month against Jillian Judson, who was told by officers to remove her underwire bra, when there were no reasonable grounds to do so, after she was taken to the police station in May 2016.

Deluzio said she was not only concerned with what happened to Judson, but also with the fact that the officers involved testified that they would continue to ask female detainees to remove their bras.

“The indifference expressed by both Officers (Amanda) MacFadden and (Janet) Allaire to their obligation as police officers to abide by the legal constraints surrounding strip searches is very concerning,” Deluzio wrote.

“And the apparent willingness of both officers, and possibly other police officers at Quinte West OPP detachment, to continue with a practice of removing at least every underwire bra worn by female de- tainees, knowing that this practice, when implemented automatically and without exception towards every female detainee, is illegal, is an egregious abuse of police power.”

Strip searching is “inherently humiliating and degrading,” the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a landmark case 15 years ago, and should only be done when there are reasonable grounds to do so, such as looking for weapons or evidence related to the arrest.

“The police can no longer take the position that they were unaware of what the law was.” PIETER KORT LAWYER FOR JILLIAN JUDSON

Yet police officers across the province have continued to conduct what judges have deemed to be illegal strip searches, where there were no grounds to have detainees remove their clothes.

The illegal searches have resulted in lawsuits against police and criminal cases being tossed.

Last July, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) announced it was launching a provincewide, systemic review into police strip search practices. The review is ongoing.

“I’ve had enough,” Gerry McNeilly, the independent police director, told the Star last year. “There is no regard being given to the rules.”

Judson’s lawyer, Pieter Kort, said police cannot argue that the law isn’t clear around strip searches given the judicial condemnation of police conduct in the past, and again in Deluzio’s ruling.

“The police can no longer take the position that they were unaware of what the law was,” he told the Star. “There’s no uncertainty now. It cannot be said that there’s any question with what the law is with respect to strip searches.”

The Ontario Provincial Police is reviewing Deluzio’s ruling, a spokesperson said.

“While I can’t anticipate the results of the OIPRD review, the OPP will certainly take into account the findings and take the necessary steps to remedy any identified issue(s),” OPP Staff Sgt. Carolle Dionne said.

MacFadden testified that she has female inmates remove their bras “for their safety and ours,” and in the past she’s found objects in underwire bras.

She also testified that she was unaware at the time of her encounter with Judson that asking a woman to remove her bra is a strip search. She said she has since been told by a senior officer that the removal is indeed a strip search, but she also said she has not changed her practice.