Strip searches at the Davis County Jail have generated three lawsuits, but local officials say they see no need to make major changes in jail policy.
Lawyers for some of the plaintiffs can't believe their ears."There is something wrong out there with those guys," said attorney Robert Sykes, who represents a Salt Lake woman suing the county and Centerville police over a 1993 strip search at the jail.
"It sounds like with the number of suits that have been filed this may be a persistent problem," said Jensie Anderson, staff attorney for the ACLU.
Still Deputy County Attorney Gary McKean said he has reviewed when jail strip searches can occur and to what degree, and thinks the policy is satisfactory as it stands.
In three separate incidents women have brought suits against Davis law enforcement agencies after they were forced to submit to strip searches at the jail.
Lisa Ann Cottrell, of Bountiful, was awarded $31,250 by the county and Kaysville City to settle her suit stemming from a 1990 incident.
Cottrell, 21 at the time, was originally pulled over by Kaysville police who suspected she was intoxicated. However, blood tests showed alcohol levels below legal limits and she was never charged.
Kristin Foote, 27, of Salt Lake, filed a $150,000 suit in U.S. District Court against the Utah Highway Patrol and Layton. She alleged she was forced to submit to a body cavity search in 1994 after being stopped over a question about her license plate.
Kristin Chatwin, 27, filed a suit against Centerville and the county after she purportedly was strip-searched after being arrested April 23, 1993, for having an open container in a car she was a passenger in.