Colorado lawmakers consider limits on videotaped strip searches

State lawmakers spent hours debating a bill that would ban jails from using body-worn cameras to videotape strip searches.

The legislation comes after a former jail commander was charged with over 100 counts in a strip-search scandal.

"He fouled his oath and utilized his power to victimize women. I'm one of those women," Suzanne Garcia told members of the House Judiciary Committee.

She's among more than 100 women who underwent strip searches at La Plata County Jail that were captured on body-worn cameras. The video was uploaded to a server where investigators say La Plata County Jail commander Edward Aber accessed it more than 3,000 times over five years.

Garcia and Katrina Lyle are part of a class action lawsuit against Aber, La Plata Board of County Commissioners, a jail lieutenant, a jail sergeant, the sheriff's office, and the current sheriff.

"Many of us had no idea we were being recorded, or it was being saved in such intimate moments," Lyle said.

Aber was arrested last year and charged with invasion of privacy for sexual gratification and official misconduct.

But the women who testified before lawmakers said they are worried that what happened to them could happen again.

Democratic state Reps. Katie Stewart and Javier Mabrey are worried, too. They brought a bill that would require two jail employees to independently document a reason for a strip search and the results of the search, bar the use of body-worn cameras and, if CCTV cameras are used, require the video to be stored on site and only accessed for law enforcement purposes.

"Strip searchers are one of the most intrusive powers that the government has. They involve forcing a person to expose themselves for inspection. That power must come with the highest possible safeguards and scrutiny," Mabrey said.

The legislation also protects whistleblowers like Raven Nyx, a former La Plata County Sheriff's Deputy, who says she voiced concerns about Aber, but they were dismissed.

She says no strip searches were taped when she was there: "They have strayed so far from their own policies in the six years since I left."

But Weld County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Pollard says body-worn cameras protect deputies and inmates.

"Often CCTV video is of lesser quality and does not capture the audio or verbal exchange between staff and jail inmates," he said.

He insists that storing the video on-site is less secure. Bill sponsors, however, didn't buy it. Neither did alleged victims like Sherell Begay.

"Let us make a difference today so that other women, our children, our sisters, our nieces don't have to go through what we, I am going through today," Begay said.

The bill passed the House Judiciary Committee with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.