Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The School Crotch Inspector - Fighting the Advil menace, one strip search at a time
Reason ^ | April 2, 2008 | Jacob Sullum

Posted on 04/02/2008 3:39:20 PM PDT by neverdem

There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who think it's perfectly reasonable to strip-search a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school, and the kind who think those people should be kept as far away from children as possible. The first group includes officials at Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona, who in 2003 forced eighth-grader Savana Redding to prove she was not concealing Advil in her crotch or cleavage.

It also includes two judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, who last fall ruled that the strip search did not violate Savana's Fourth Amendment rights. The full court, which recently heard oral arguments in the case, now has an opportunity to overturn that decision and vote against a legal environment in which schoolchildren are conditioned to believe government agents have the authority to subject people to invasive, humiliating searches on the slightest pretext.

Safford Middle School has a "zero tolerance" policy that prohibits possession of all drugs, including not just alcohol and illegal intoxicants but prescription medications and over-the-counter remedies, "except those for which permission to use in school has been granted." In October 2003, acting on a tip, Vice Principal Kerry Wilson found a few 400-milligram ibuprofen pills (each equivalent to two over-the-counter tablets) and one nonprescription naproxen tablet in the pockets of a student named Marissa, who claimed Savana was her source.

Savana, an honors student with no history of disciplinary trouble or drug problems, said she didn't know anything about the pills and agreed to a search of her backpack, which turned up nothing incriminating. Wilson nevertheless instructed a female secretary to strip-search Savana under the school nurse's supervision, without even bothering to contact the girl's mother.

The secretary had Savana take off all her clothing except her underwear. Then she told her to "pull her bra out and to the side and shake it, exposing her breasts," and "pull her underwear out at the crotch and shake it, exposing her pelvic area." Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between drug warriors and child molesters.

"I was embarrassed and scared," Savana said in an affidavit, "but felt I would be in more trouble if I did not do what they asked. I held my head down so they could not see I was about to cry." She called it "the most humiliating experience I have ever had." Later, she recalled, the principal, Robert Beeman, said "he did not think the strip search was a big deal because they did not find anything."

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a public school official's search of a student is constitutional if it is "justified at its inception" and "reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." This search was neither.

When Wilson ordered the search, the only evidence that Savana had violated school policy was the uncorroborated accusation from Marissa, who was in trouble herself and eager to shift the blame. Even Marissa (who had pills in her pockets, not her underwear) did not claim that Savana currently possessed any pills, let alone that she had hidden them under her clothes.

Savana, who was closely supervised after Wilson approached her, did not have an opportunity to stash contraband. As the American Civil Liberties Union puts it, "There was no reason to suspect that a thirteen-year-old honor-roll student with a clean disciplinary record had adopted drug-smuggling practices associated with international narcotrafficking, or to suppose that other middle-school students would willingly consume ibuprofen that was stored in another student's crotch."

The invasiveness of the search also has to be weighed against the evil it was aimed at preventing. "Remember," the school district's lawyer recently told ABC News by way of justification, "this was prescription-strength ibuprofen." It's a good thing the school took swift action, before anyone got unauthorized relief from menstrual cramps.

© Copyright 2008 by Creators Syndicate Inc.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: advil; arth; ashredux; authoritarianism; healthnazis; homeschoolingisgood; nannystate; publicschool; schooldiscipline; stripsearch; teens; twoequalsthree; wod; wodlist; zot
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 1,301-1,3201,321-1,3401,341-1,360 ... 1,741-1,754 next last
To: 50mm

“Changed my tagline again.”

I think you have 3 & 4 reversed in your tagline.


1,321 posted on 04/06/2008 6:04:45 PM PDT by driftdiver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1277 | View Replies]

To: Mojave

“What law was broken, counselor?”

If no law was broken then why was there a strip search?


1,322 posted on 04/06/2008 6:06:10 PM PDT by driftdiver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1295 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver

Nope. You need probable cause to get a warrant. The whole sequence is backwards. That’s the way IT thinks it should be.


1,323 posted on 04/06/2008 6:07:31 PM PDT by 50mm (1) Stomp on innocent's head. 2) Knock down door. 3) Apply for warrant. 4) Find probable cause.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1321 | View Replies]

To: 50mm

“You need strip searched.”

I aint touching that line, it would get me banned by FR or my wife.


1,324 posted on 04/06/2008 6:10:44 PM PDT by driftdiver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1308 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson

I was thinking the kind that would tear him up into chunks and eat the pieces.


1,325 posted on 04/06/2008 6:13:13 PM PDT by driftdiver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1309 | View Replies]

To: 50mm; driftdiver

No, you both have it wrong.

Three should be “Strip search occupants of house.”

Four would be “Shoot the dog, the walls, whoever you feel like; and arrest anything that’s still breathing.”


1,326 posted on 04/06/2008 6:13:55 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1323 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver; 50mm
see post 1279: Tagline additions
1,327 posted on 04/06/2008 6:14:16 PM PDT by 50mm (1) Stomp on innocent's head. 2) Knock down door. 3) Apply for warrant. 4) Find probable cause.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1323 | View Replies]

To: 50mm

now that was funny.


1,328 posted on 04/06/2008 6:15:03 PM PDT by driftdiver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1311 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver; Mojave
now that was funny.

I was series! Are you logged in? This is hugh!

1,329 posted on 04/06/2008 6:18:15 PM PDT by 50mm (1) Stomp on innocent's head. 2) Knock down door. 3) Apply for warrant. 4) Find probable cause.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1328 | View Replies]

To: metmom

Isn’t there usually some raping of women when socialist states do this kinda searching?


1,330 posted on 04/06/2008 6:22:10 PM PDT by driftdiver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1326 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver
I aint

Yes you are!

touching

That sounds very liberal!

get me banned

I'll try!

FR or my wife

If your wife is good looking, I'd prefer her.

1,331 posted on 04/06/2008 6:22:49 PM PDT by 50mm (1) Stomp on innocent's head. 2) Knock down door. 3) Apply for warrant. 4) Find probable cause.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1324 | View Replies]

To: 50mm

“If your wife is good looking, I’d prefer her. “

She’s very loyal, a 5th degree blackbelt and can handle my .45 passably well. Good luck, you’ll need it.


1,332 posted on 04/06/2008 6:31:16 PM PDT by driftdiver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1331 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver

Backing off and trembling in fear! LOL


1,333 posted on 04/06/2008 6:32:16 PM PDT by 50mm (1) Stomp on innocent's head. 2) Knock down door. 3) Apply for warrant. 4) Find probable cause.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1332 | View Replies]

To: 50mm

From the shrieking I don’t think the gerbil the owl is attacking is in my backyard. IT is a fantasy. It is obscure and I don’t mean to obfuscate, but the ACLU does not have anything about owl attacks on gerbils.


1,334 posted on 04/06/2008 6:35:39 PM PDT by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1320 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver; 50mm
She’s very loyal

A dog is very loyal. Is she a ....

5th degree blackbelt and can handle my .45 passably well.

fabulous woman? She sounds like it.

You see, Mojave, that is logic properly applied.

1,335 posted on 04/06/2008 6:39:26 PM PDT by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1332 | View Replies]

To: Mojave

Ooops. There I go again. PING ))))))))}}}}}}}}}}+++++++.....


1,336 posted on 04/06/2008 6:40:32 PM PDT by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1335 | View Replies]

To: 50mm

Sorry. I am trying to learn. Just hard to keep up.


1,337 posted on 04/06/2008 6:41:00 PM PDT by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1336 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson
Also quick thinking!

Etiquette! Etiquette! Cite?

Etiquette!

1,338 posted on 04/06/2008 6:42:16 PM PDT by 50mm (1) Stomp on innocent's head. 2) Knock down door. 3) Apply for warrant. 4) Find probable cause.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1335 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson; 50mm

Whats kinda funny is there are a lot of hawks that live in my area. Almost every day you can hear them screech as they hunt squirrels, snakes and gerbils. Also have these huge herons that fly over with their 4-5 foot wingspans.

Of course I can’t provide any proof of this or even cite a reference.


1,339 posted on 04/06/2008 6:42:27 PM PDT by driftdiver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1334 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson
I am trying

No you aren't!

Just hard

Pervert! Who helped you?

keep up

Stole that from me! Citation!

1,340 posted on 04/06/2008 6:45:27 PM PDT by 50mm (1) Stomp on innocent's head. 2) Knock down door. 3) Apply for warrant. 4) Find probable cause.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1337 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 1,301-1,3201,321-1,3401,341-1,360 ... 1,741-1,754 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson