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.