Pubdate: Mon, 28 Feb 2000
Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2000 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Author: Barry Dorey

WOMAN TO FILE COMPLAINT AGAINST POLICE

Strip search wrong, she says

A strip-search complaint against Halifax Regional Police that was derailed
last week is back on track.

The Nova Scotia Police Commission ruled the Canadian Civil Liberties
Association could not file a complaint stemming from strip searches at a
Jan. 29 rave on Maynard Street. Only citizens affected by an officer's
actions can file a complaint, so 22-year-old Halifax resident Aimee
Kindervater stepped forward.

"I took it upon myself mostly because I see people are still uncomfortable
with what happened three weeks later," said Ms. Kindervater, who was
searched while working in the coat check.

"Somebody has got to stand up for our basic human rights . . . and a lot of
people feel they were violated."

The Halifax record store clerk will meet today with Halifax lawyer Walter
Thompson, a director with the civil liberties association, to redraft the
complaint.

Mr. Thompson wrote Chief David McKinnon accusing officers of "flagrantly
breaking the law" and people's civil rights by doing the strip-search.

As many as 50 young people were searched - ostensibly for the designer drug
ecstasy and other narcotics.

Most of the males were patted down while most of the females, some under 17,
were told to strip.

Police are accused of exceeding the boundaries of the search warrant, which
resulted in the seizure of about 30 unknown pills, two small bags of
marijuana and a joint. The pills are being analysed.

The police commission, which hears complaints against police forces, said
last week the group can't file a complaint under the Nova Scotia Police Act
on its own.

The commission says that based on a 1992 Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruling,
only citizens affected by an officer's actions can file a complaint.
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