WARREN Strip-searches not routine with arrests, mayor says

The law director does not believe the officers knowingly violated the law.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- No routine strip-searches or body-cavity searches are taking place at the city police department, city officials say.
Mayor Hank Angelo said police officers have been instructed not to do the searches unless they have probable cause and follow strict guidelines.
"We have discussed the recent complaint of Dominic Gambone and we will be meeting with the police chief and his captains to discuss it further on Wednesday," Angelo said. He declined to say if any discipline will be issued.
Gambone, 25, who lived on South Project S.E. when he was arrested in February 2002 on charges of driving under suspension and driving slow, filed a complaint in March saying patrolmen Tim Parana and Robert Trimble did a body-cavity search on him shortly after he was arrested.
Parana told the investigating officer that he routinely does the searches on all males he arrests. The internal affairs officer found that Parana and Trimble violated state law and departmental policy. Police Chief John Mandopoulos, however, declined to discipline the officers.
Atty. Kenneth D. Myers, adjunct professor at the Cleveland-Marshall School of Law at Cleveland State University, said courts have determined that conducting an illegal strip-search is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
State law also notes that officers who did not make reports of the strip-search can also face a fourth-degree misdemeanor charge.
Law director's decision
Law Director Greg Hicks, however, says he does not believe officers will face any criminal charges.
"I don't think the officers knowingly or willingly violated the law," Hicks said. "It's my decision, and based on the information I have right now, I don't believe any charges will be filed. The officers thought what they were doing was right."
Hicks said what he was told is that the officers would do the strip-search if they felt the person may go to jail.
"The jailer would always ask the officers if the person they brought was searched," Hicks said.
Sheriff Thomas Altiere said his jailers may ask if a person is searched, but they are asking only if the person had been patted down for weapons.
"The jailers are not asking about strip or body-cavity searches," Altiere said. "We only do those here in very rare occasions, and they are done by medical personnel."
Gambone was not taken to jail. The report from Parana notes that Gambone was released shortly after the body-cavity search, without having to post bond, because he didn't cause any problems.
"I feel the law director should look at this again," said Councilman James Pugh, D-6th. "I doubt the officers didn't know; the officers should have known. Ignorance of the law is no excuse."
Hicks said if he is presented with the internal report, he will look at the matter again.
"If they come to me, then I'll look at it," Hicks said. "It's not my job to discipline police officers."
sinkovich@vindy.com