Police in a New York jurisdiction strip-searched every person they arrested, as well as people who were not placed under arrest, according to a Department of Justice report. The illegal searches were part of a more extensive set of rights abuses and illegal activities committed by members of the Mount Vernon Police Department and demonstrate a larger pattern of systemic violations on the part of police forces across the country.
Strip searching everyone under arrest, and some who were not
The revelations about the Mount Vernon Police Department come from a newly released report by the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The report notes that “until at least October 2022, it was MVPD’s practice to subject every person they arrested to a strip search—and, in many cases, a visual cavity search —which are among the most degrading and intrusive searches officers can perform.” The report clarifies that “because strip searches and visual cavity searches are permissible only when an officer has reasonable suspicion that evidence or weapons were concealed in a person’s clothing or body cavities, this practice was a gross violation of Fourth Amendment rights.”
In one case cited in the report and covered by journalists, two women, ages 65 and 75, were detained and strip-searched after being falsely accused of buying drugs.
The report also finds that Mount Vernon Police conducted strip searches of people who were not under arrest at the time of the search.
Investigation reveals patterns of misconduct, spurs reforms
The report, issued after a three-year investigation, finds that the police force of this New York City suburb engaged in several illegal activities and abuses of power. Mount Vernon Police were found to make arrests without probable cause. The police also regularly used excessive force, such as unnecessarily punching and tasering suspects, in escalation of encounters or against people who were already restrained.
In light of the investigation and its findings, the MVPD has reportedly implemented reforms, such as enforcing officers’ wearing of body cameras and additional training on using strip searches.
“We are encouraged by the recent steps the City of Mount Vernon and the MVPD have taken that evince a commitment to constitutional policing,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said, “and we look forward to continued cooperation to ensure that MVPD keeps its community safe from crime while respecting its citizens’ constitutional rights.”
DOJ conducts investigations of police across the country
The investigation into the Mount Vernon Police Department is one of at least a dozen such inquiries made by the DOJ into police departments around the country since April 2021. These include investigations in Louisville, Kentucky, where Breonna Taylor was killed in her apartment by police conducting a raid in March 2020, and Minneapolis, where police murdered George Floyd in May 2020. Other investigations have been performed or are ongoing concerning police departments in Arizona, Massachusetts, Mississippi and New Jersey, among other states.
The scope of the abuses in Mount Vernon and the number of police departments being investigated across the country speak to the scale of the issue of police misconduct. While the Mount Vernon findings help shed light on the situation, and the reform process will hopefully change that department’s abusive practices, much work must be done there and around the country to tackle such a widespread problem.
