Baton Rouge police have been unconstitutionally strip-searching people for years, and the department must immediately change its policies to limit when the intrusive tactic is used, a federal judge has ruled.
The application of the controversial strip search policy has brought accusations of Baton Rouge Police Department members carrying out flashlight cavity searches and groping a teenager's genitals, which lawsuits claim happened to people who did not commit crimes.
But as of Friday, the non-arrestee strip searches can no longer be used.
U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick wrote in her opinion that her concerns were not eased by the June 25 testimony of Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr., in which he said officers could conduct strip searches based on "articulable reasonable suspicion."
"The Court is unpersuaded that anything less than probable cause is sufficient to justify a strip search of a non-arrestee," Dick wrote, regarding the policy that BRPD has employed for around 30 years.
Probable cause is a legal standard that requires apparent evidence that a crime has likely occurred. Reasonable suspicion has been defined by the U.S. Supreme Court as a "common-sense" conclusion of human behavior, still requiring facts or circumstances to be applied to a search.
"This is the right ruling to be made," said Ryan Keith Thompson, lead attorney in a case filed against BRPD. "We've always maintained that the actions of Baton Rouge Police Department was unconstitutional … the court reaffirmed what we all always knew."
The Friday decision in Middle District Court involves one of several lawsuits tied to the "BRAVE Cave" warehouse, in which officers have been accused of taking suspects to an unmarked interrogation facility and beating and "torturing" them.
"What BRPD had been doing to non-arrestees is shackling them at the hands and the feet, transporting them to the Brave Cave … and subjecting them to sexual humiliating strip searches without probable cause," Thompson said.
The decision is part of a case brought by Thompson's client Jeremy Lee, who is suing BRPD and a number of officials for an incident from 2023.
Lee's accusations include being detained in handcuffs by BRPD officers without suspicion or probable cause. Officers then forced him into the street, pulled down his pants and searched him, according to the civil complaint.
Shortly after being strip-searched, Lee said, he asked why he was being arrested to which an officer replied, "You're being detained."
According to court records, when Lee asked why, the same officer replied, "Because I said so."
In court last month, East Baton Rouge city-parish attorney Michael Schillage defended the department's use of the policy.
"On its face, it affords the ability for an officer to use his or her own discretion when it rises to reasonable articulable suspicion of concealment of weapons or contraband,” Schillage said.
Now, that policy needs to change, Dick ruled.
"For any search beyond a frisk or pat-down of a citizen … the Constitution requires that police officers have probable cause," the judge wrote.
She also called the policy "intrusive," "unconstitutional on its face" and said it "significantly trampled" a citizen's constitutional rights.
In concluding her opinion, Dick ordered that the department stop using strip searches with non-arrestees during investigatory stops.
"This is a very big deal," Thompson said. "Any citizen on the street now has the protection of a federal court, against the Baton Rouge Police Department and their unconstitutional strip search policy."
On Friday afternoon, the Baton Rouge police chief said the department would be revising the policy with the Parish Attorney's Office to be in compliance with the judge's ruling as the case continues to be litigated.
"As I’ve stated since my appointment this January, I am committed to reviewing and updating every internal BRPD policy to ensure that each policy is in line with the law and national best practices. This policy is no exception," Morse said, adding the department will release the revised policy once it is written.
East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said her administration is also committed to improving the department's policies to meet the requirements under the law.
"This has been my focused goal since the beginning of my administration, and the improvements we are seeing within BRPD demonstrate that we are making progress," Broome said.
The mayor added the department will continue to review and update policies going forward.