Disturbing Police Strip Search Gone Bad

I live in the UK and quite frankly viewing this clip has sent shivers down my spine. I find it hard to believe this was actually genuine police Officers conducting this ???? I’m not really quite sure how one would exactly describe what happened in that cell. I must admit at first glance it could easily have been confused as a small group of people enthusiastically filming some cheap porno movie. I’ve been trying to piece together what really would have been their motivation for stripping this poor woman completely stark naked. Surely one could only accept such actions being justifiably ‘for her own protection, had they in fact let her keep her lower underwear on, leaving her with perhaps a small amount of dignity, and quite frankly male officers being present in the cell at the time was bad enough but actually taking part in this strip, would only force peoples imaginations to run completely wild. The whole complexity of this incident is hard to understand, surely they had to be aware their actions were being filmed. I also fail to understand how the Sheriff is genuinely able to justify their actions. Once the lawsuit gets into full swing this particular scandal could escalate and cause disastrous consequences for the Police Dept’s relations with the general public, but having said that, it so happens these days that every now and again when the public is protesting over some police issues or the like, very often the general contention is that these things so very simply get brushed under the carpet so to speak and we never get to hear any more about them. I’ve read some other comments on this site suggesting sexual motivation, but to me it doesn’t seem very likely because of the sheer number of male and female officers involved at the time. With respect, may I say, to holiday in beautiful America has always been very high on my agenda, but please forgive me now when I say that, should this particular Police Dept get away with their treatment of this poor innocent woman, then to be quite honest, it’s fair to say that frankly I’d worry less if my family holidays ended up elsewhere, perhaps a place where Police Officers behave a little more dignified and just a little more peaceful. I apologise if anyone’s offended by any of my comments but I feel these words need to be said, and I’m sorry this piece is so long it probably comes across more like an article than just my comments. Finally in conclusion, I am of course fully aware that in general the Police are a decent bunch and do one heck of a job, putting their lives at risk every day and so on, and naturally I’m sure no one would argue that they are a courageous lot and it’s quite unjust and unfair that this will have to reflect on so many. But clearly this really is scary stuff, no matter what the outcome, it’s still going to continue to be a worry and concern for a whole lot of people.
Ron Beal
UK

I watched this video the day it was posted and it has taken me until now to respond because I could not put a proper descriptive word to how I felt until now.
I think the word is apathetic.
I was truly surprised to see the outrage ( although I thought Brandon's went over the top) at how this women was treated, which was absolutely deplorable don't get me wrong but I couldn't understand how people were under the impression that this does not happen all the time.
Let me make myself clear here for starters i think the police have a hard job and for the most part they do an amazing job, we ask so much for them and return so little to them, they have a thankless job for the most part, yet who amongst us wouldn't call 911 if we feared for our safety.

Back to the clip, I have seen girls like this one in cells, failing about screaming almost incoherent, were they high? Mentally unstable? A harm to themselves? Others?
Who knows but we ask the police to deal with them and because of what they see daily they have no reason to believe anyone until the person is confined and both parties safety is assured.
If there is one thing I know about dealing with the cops is the best thing is just let them cuff you if that's what they are going to do and try talking to them once the situation is diffused.
Am I saying what the officers did is right NO, they should face a punishment committee and be rightly punished and there should be changes to police techniques, but with the situations they walk in on, how do they know what is the truth and what isn't?

But it is a lot easier to judge from the safety of our computer chair.

I do know this kind of thing goes on right here in BC from personal experience, there used to be a bar on Hastings called the Sunrise and a little store beside it called the Sports Cafe. Most people who hung out there has something or another do do with the drug trade, so when the cops came in they would gather up the girls who they suspected of packing (carrying drugs) for their boyfriends or someone they worked for and took us into the back.
There was this little bathroom and we would one at a time go in there with a officer and take off our shirt and lift up the bottom of our bra's so the coke balls would fall out if they were there and separate our breasts to show them we had none in our cleavage.
We took off our shoes, they went through the pockets of our pants and as time went on we had to start pulling down our pants underwear and all, to show we had no dope there.
We both knew they were not allowed to do this, they didn't want the paperwork of taking us in and we knew we had no recourse.
Yet surprisingly over time instead of becoming more angry about what they did I personally became more grateful because after a while there was finally a woman paired with the guy who did this so it was now at least there was a girl doing the searches. (FYI~ I never did have dope on me, my man wrapped it in plastic and kept it in his beer bottle)
To have that done to oneself just entrenches the belief of us and them and makes it even harder to look at the chasm that separates you and the rest of the world and think that you can ever over come it.

I was just at a meeting yesterday with a organization who works with young women in the correction system and the women who ran it was talking about how they found out the girls ( in youth custody) were being given breast exams as part of a forensic psychological review by a male doctor and when they questioned the powers that be about why they were getting breast exams during a psych exam they were kicked out of the facility and are now having to fight to get back in.
Trust me it happens, but what is a woman supposed to do in that position when all the people she can go to are men who could never see her perspective or who silence her by sticking to the “boys club” rules.
Ultimately I think it shows how much further we have to go in women's equality.

In the city of Chicago, Illinois, women were regularly strip-searched for ROUTINE TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS from the 1950s until the late 1970s. Hundreds of thousands of women were subjected to this abuse over three decades.

Women who did not comply voluntarily were brutally and violently stripped by police. Situations as minor as excessive speed or missing a stop sign often spiralled into this tragedy.

This scandal was exposed in the early 1980s in various Chicago newspapers and on TV. (I wanted to provide a good link describing this, but since it all occurred pre-internet, the best I could do was to find court filings from the era that verify it (eg: http://www.altlaw.org/v1/cases/489181 and http://www.peopleslawoffice.com/cases/victories/).)

My personal belief is that most US police officers work very hard and risk their lives in performance of a critical public service. Unfortunately, in various jurisdictions at various times, the policing power has been systematically abused. I have lived in small towns in the south where the American principle of "local control of police" means unchecked corruption or abuse of police power. What we need is police review at the state or federal level, which could easily minimize these problems.

Wow! It's footage like that that stops me wanting to go to America. It's frightening to think that a female middle class white victim of crime is treated like that; what chance would I have!?!