Male police officers are only permitted to search female detainees in extremely rare circumstances.
Speaking at the weekly police press briefing on Wednesday, Insp Sean Sookram, of the Court and Process Branch, had claimed that while there is no law preventing male officers from arresting and searching female suspects.
However, he said such incidents were rare as female officers had been assigned to every police division and unit to reduce the chances of such a scenario occurring.
Less than 24 hours later, the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) sought to clarify the issue of searching a female suspect after an arrest.
In a release issued yesterday morning, PCA Deputy Director Michelle Solomon-Baksh pointed out that the Standing Order 47 (8) of the TTPS’s Standing Orders requires that female officers be assigned to divisions and branches for participation in raids and searches involving women and children.
“It is therefore a practice and policy set out by the police themselves to have a female officer act on a daily basis. So it is only in extreme and limited circumstances that a male officer will have to search a female suspect,” Solomon-Baksh said.
She noted that on September 28, last year, the PCA had advised the Police Service on complaints it had received over the absence of female officers during raids and searches.
Solomon-Baksh also stated that the standing order required justification in cases where male officers were forced to search female detainees.
“Female suspects should not be subjected to any humiliation, inhumane or degrading treatment and searches by men should not be the usual practice. Furthermore, when a male officer searches a female suspect, an account and justification should be given for the absence of the female officer as prescribed by Standing Order 47 (8),” Solomon-Baksh said.
Like Sookram, Solomon-Baksh said that prisoners are to be searched upon arrest, before being placed in a cell and again on being taken from a cell.
However, she noted that the regulation stated: “At the station male prisoners shall be searched by two male officers and female prisoners by the Police Matron or women police officers.”
She also said the Firearms Act specifically calls for female suspects to be searched by female police officers.
“The PCA is of the view that the Police Service has not only implemented its own rules to ensure that female officers are always present but it also is guided by the law,” the release said.
In a telephone interview with CNC3 yesterday afternoon, TTPS corporate communications manager Ellen Lewis stated that the PCA’s position was not inconsistent with her organisation’s stance.
“It is not impossible for a male officer to search but it is not common in practice.There is no inconsistency with the PCA’s statement and what was said by the TTPS,” Lewis said.
Contacted yesterday, President of the Police Social and Welfare Association Insp Michael Seales suggested that the confusion over the issue was due by lack of a proper explanation at the briefing.
“For the association it was not explained properly so that prompted the PCA to make a pronouncement on it,” Seales said.
Like Sookram and Solomon-Baksh, Seales said that the legislation governing the TTPS allowed for male officers to arrest a female suspect who is committing, suspected of or is about to commit a crime.
“The only thing the association has a different understanding of is when a female becomes a prisoner, there is no room or doubt in our mind that only a female officer could search that person,” Seales said.
He called upon the TTPS to state its official policy to avoid further ambiguity.
“The association would simply say there needs to be a clear mandate by both parties so as to avoid the confusion that spills over to the public, which ultimately only affects the citizenry,” Seales said.
