Charlie Langton: Strip Searches For Minor Traffic Violations?
I'm always intrigued when strip searches make the national news. And it seems strange for some reason to talk about strip searching and old judges in the same sentence.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether or not cops can strip search a jailed suspect even if they don't expect to find any drugs or contraband and even if they're jailed for a minor traffic offense. I believe the cops can strip search.
Currently, there is no privacy violation or 4th amendment violation of reasonable searches if cops strip search when there is a reasonable suspicion that the inmate has drugs/contraband in certain private places. Further, if the inmate is jailed for a major offense, not a traffic ticket, strip searches are routinely done for jail security reasons. But this issue went to the Supreme Court because of what happened to a nice guy, not a hardened criminal you might expect.
Albert Florence was taking his 7-month-pregnant wife and their 4-year-old to his mother-in-law's house for dinner one fine evening in New Jersey. Apparently Mr. Florence was in a hurry to taste grandma's home cooking when he was pulled over by a New Jersey State trooper.
Mr. Florence is a hard-working father who makes a good living and is able to afford a BMW SUV. Florence's only problem was that he had a few traffic tickets in the past and for some reason, the New Jersey records indicated that one of his tickets was outstanding and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
Florence, the responsible citizen that he is, had a letter with him on this night saying that in fact the ticket had been paid and that he had complied with all of New Jersey's traffic laws. The cop didn't believe him. So Mr. Florence was taken to jail. There, he was strip searched. In fact, he spent six days in jail waiting for a hearing and was strip searched a second time when he was transferred to another jail.
Strip searches are demeaning. You are forced to take off all of your clothes, open your mouth, bend over, and have some police officer (hopefully trained in this area) scrutinize your every crack and cranny... a job I would not want!
When Florence finally got to court, New Jersey's records were updated and Mr. Jones was not guilty of any crime and the judge released him. The Supreme Court will now decide whether or not these New Jersey strip-searching cops when too far.
Unfortunately, bad facts make bad law. I believe the Supreme Court will permit these types of strip searches. There are strip search studies that show that police rarely find contraband in those strip searched for minor crimes. However, strip searches are done not only to find contraband but for the safety of the police as well as the other inmates. And more importantly, inmates have no expectation of privacy. If you want privacy, don't go to jail.
