BATON ROUGE — A federal judge ruled Friday that the Baton Rouge Police Department's policy of strip-searching people based on mere suspicions is unconstitutional and ordered the agency to stop conducting them if the circumstances weren't appropriate.

U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick said the U.S. Supreme Court has "plainly held" that probable cause is needed to go beyond the frisking or pat-down of a person being held during a temporary investigation.

BRPD's policy fails to meet that standard, she said. She noted that under a general department order, officers can conduct strip searches based on an “individualized articulable reasonable suspicion” standard.

The Baton Rouge Police Department issued a statement saying the department is working with the Parish Attorney's Office to ensure the policy is revised to match the ruling.

“As I’ve stated since my appointment this January, I am committed to reviewing and updating every internal BRPD policy to ensure that each policy is in line with the law and national best practices," BRPD Chief Thomas Morse said. "This policy is no exception.”

Additionally, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome commented on the ruling.

“We respect this ruling and remain committed to improving our Baton Rouge Police Department policies and procedures to meet the requirements under the law and national best practices in law enforcement," Broome said. "This has been my focused goal since the beginning of my administration, and the improvements we are seeing within BRPD demonstrate that we are making progress. Our police department will continue to review and update its policies, implementing them here in our community.”

The complete filing can be found here.

Attorney Ryan Thompson, who fought against the original policy, believes the new policy will act as a safeguard for all Baton Rouge residents.

"This injunction prevents further harm to not only myself, me, you, Ms. Lee, Ms. Brown, but also the public in general, because we believe as the policy read in its face puts anyone in jeopardy of being strip-searched," Thompson said.

Thompson believes the court made the right decision in declaring the current policy as unconstitutional.

"What's happening under the BRPD policy is that they believe if a crime had been committed, may be committed, or may have weapons or contraband on them, they believe they could detain you for a prolonged period, that they could take you time a warehouse and subject you to a sexual humiliation strip search," Thompson said. "Well, that is not in alignment with the constitution."

In June, Police Chief T.J. Morse testified that he believed it was appropriate for officers to conduct strip searches under the lower standard. He said that in his career as an officer he had never conducted one. BRPD has had a strip search policy since 1994 and it was last updated in 2022.

The plaintiff in the suit, Jeremy Lee, says he was arrested "without reasonable suspicion or probable cause" and that he was beaten at a torture warehouse known as the BRAVE Cave. He says he suffered a fractured rib and that jailers refused to process him until he had gone to a hospital for the treatment of his injuries.

The lawsuit says Lee was cooperative but that officers pushed him, then proceeded to "pull his arms, and force him down in the middle of a paved street, where they pulled down his pants to search him."

Morse insisted at the June court hearing that the department follows appropriate policies. 

"I believe we exceed best practices. We go above and beyond the standards set forth by other departments," Morse said. "One officer's mistake doesn't call for policy change. It was just one officer."