Detainees v Broward County, Florida Sheriff's Office
Lawsuit claims thousands of illegal strip searches done by Broward County Sheriffs
Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld allowed a class action lawsuit to go forward alleging that the Broward Sheriff's Office has for years been conducting illegal strip-searches of people arrested for relatively minor crimes.
The lawsuit charges that the Sheriff's Office "instituted a policy to strip-search all pre-trial detainees, including those arrested for traffic offenses and misdemeanors." The lawsuit, filed by a Fort Lauderdale attorney Kevin Kulik, asserts that those searches were unconstitutional.
Also, it says, they violated Florida law that bars jailers from strip-searching those arrested for non-violent or non-drug-related charges unless there is cause to think they possess contraband, such as a weapon or drugs.
In the case of all strip searches, Sheriff's jail deputies are supposed to obtain written permission from their supervisor.
According to the lawsuit, Sheriff Ken Jenne gave the judge a figure of 1,764 individuals who were possibly illegally searched between Dec. 13, 1999, and Dec. 13, 2002, when pressed for an estimate during one court hearing. Kulik said Jenne has not divulged how the department arrived at that figure.
Two women already have been identified in the class action lawsuit, Daisy Cole and Martha Echeverry. Both were strip-searched, though the State Attorney's Office ultimately declined to file charges in either case. Cole had been arrested on a charge of obstructing a police officer and Echeverry was arrested after a domestic disturbance.
