A small-time drug trafficker has been handed a lighter sentence after a judge ruled the man was forced to undergo a humiliating and degrading strip search by RCMP.
Dylan Brown pleaded guilty in December to selling cocaine and meth worth about $120 to an undercover Mountie in Sherwood Park near Edmonton.
The Crown sought a sentence of one year in jail on the trafficking charge, but Brown asked for a 90-day intermittent sentence.
Justice Joanne Veit of Court of Queen’s Bench sentenced him to 90 days, citing the unreasonable strip search.
Six RCMP and a police dog took part in Brown’s arrest and an initial search did not find any more drugs.
Brown was taken to the RCMP detachment, where he was thoroughly strip searched, which was videotaped.
Veit noted the strip search was not authorized by a police supervisor and the officer did not take any notes about the search.
The officer testified that strip searches in such drug cases are routine.
Veit noted the Supreme Court of Canada has emphasized that police must have reasonable and probable grounds to conduct a strip search.