A federal judge is reining in the use of “strip searches” by police in Louisiana's capital city. The Baton Rouge policy that was blocked by Friday's order allowed police to strip search people who had not been arrested based on a “reasonable suspicion” that the person might be armed or holding illegal material. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick's order says such a search of non-arrestees requires the higher standard of probable cause. Her ruling came in litigation filed last year that accused Baton Rouge police of misconduct including beatings and illegal strip searches of people detained at a warehouse dubbed the “brave cave.”
