1st Circuit: STRIP SEARCH OF MINOR FOR NARCOTICS IS LEGAL

Crime Control Digest, Oct 28, 2005

Strip searches for drugs are legal regardless of the age of the suspect, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals held.

A three-judge panel rejected a claim of civil rights violations for a Fitchburg, Mass., police search of an adult and seven children between the ages of six and 15.

The plaintiffs sought to strike down the qualified immunity of eight officers for exceeding the boundaries of a legal search and the city for alleged improper training of its officers.

At the time of the incident, the minor plaintiffs either lived in, or were visiting family members at the apartment.

The plaintiffs alleged the city was liable for the actions of the officers because it had "established a custom of deliberate indifference to the rights of its citizens by not adequately training its officers on the proper methods for executing a search."

The plaintiffs also claimed the trial court barred the introduction of evidence that showed some of the searches did not involve drugs.

The appellate court said the searches were legal within the context of the warrant that authorized a search for drugs on the premises.

Inf. Quiles v. Kilson, 05-1026, 1st Circ., Oct. 21. The circuit consists of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico and Rhode Island.