Strip Searched Twice For Paid Traffic Fine

 When Albert Florence, of New Jersey, headed for dinner at his mother-in law's home with his pregnant wife and young child he made sure he brought along a very important paper with him. A letter showing he had paid a fine from several years ago for fleeing a traffic stop. He had been stopped by police previously and for some reason the fine would show as unpaid and that he had a warrant because of that. The letter had kept him from being arrested during these stops, this night he would not be so lucky.
 The Suv his wife was driving was stopped by a NJ State Trooper who discovered the warrant. He produced the letter but was arrested anyway. He was taken to a South Jersey jail in Burlington County.
 If being arrested wasn't bad enough, when he arrived at the jail he was promptly strip searched. He then sat in that jail for six days awaiting a hearing. When he was granted a hearing he was then transferred to another prison, this time in Newark, where he was strip searched again. The next day he was freed by a judge who agreed the fine had been paid and all charges were dropped.
 Albert Florence brought suit, not over the arrest, but the strip searches. A federal appeals court ruled that all prisoners can be stripped searched, something very different than most decisions by other courts. The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution doesn't allow for unreasonaable searches. In fact, most courts feel you must be charged with a crime to warrant a strip search. Albert Florence had in their eyes only not paid a fine, not a criminal offense at all.
 He is now appealing his case to the Supreme Court. This has been going on for 6 years now as his initial arrest was in March of 2005.
 Guess the moral of this story is don't get arrested in the first place in New Jersey. Afterall, you pay the fine you owe, carry a letter stating so, and because there is a backup of getting that imformation into the computer, look what could happen to you. Not just arrested, but strip searched twice, spend 6 days in two jails, and then have a court tell you that everything they did to you was ok.
 Pretty scary stuff. So if you have any outstanding tickets, better make sure you take care of them. Can only imagine what could happen to you if you actually don't pay the fine.