criminal-law police is-x-legal
Is it legal for officers of one sex to strip-search detainees of a different sex?
<p>I believe there is a law that states strip searches are performed by officers of the same sex as the detainee, and not by officers of a different sex. However this did not occur in the following cases.</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9rhZADfOaw&amp;t=1s" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Woman Says Strip Search After DUI Arrest Went Too Far</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riboisae0JY" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fully Nude Strip Search by Cops: Male Police Stripping Woman Completely Naked</a></p></li>
</ul>

<p>Is there any law broken in these cases?
Under what circumstances would male or female officers strip female or male detainees, respectively, forcibly?</p>

<p>There is no hard rule that a strip search cannot be performed by a different-gendered officer. The hard rule is that the search must be reasonable (as required by the 4th Amendment) , which means that there have to be sufficient reasons for the search. Depending on the circumstances, a search of a male by a female, or in view of a female, could be reasonable – and in other circumstances it could be unreasonable. As the court in <a href="https://openjurist.org/945/f2d/441/cookish-v-powell" rel="noreferrer">Cookish v. Powell</a>, 945 F. 2d 441 said,</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>In each case it requires a balancing of the need for the particular
  search against the invasion of personal rights that the search
  entails. Courts must consider the scope of the particular intrusion,
  the manner in which it is conducted, the justification for initiating
  it, and the place in which it is conducted</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There are trends in the law which speak in favor of inmates right to privacy from cross-gender strip searches. <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/01/05/07-16640.pdf" rel="noreferrer">Byrd v. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors</a> is a recent decision where given the circumstances, a cross-gender search was found to be unreasonable. Cookish v. Powell is one where it wasn't unreasonable. This <a href="https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/sites/default/files/library/crossgendersearchescaselawsurvey.pdf" rel="noreferrer">resource file</a> assembles numerous court rulings, classifying them for judicial circuit, gender of staff vs. gender of inmate, sorting according to who prevails. The "rule" would be that the more intrusive the staff conduct is, the less reasonable the search is: but the more of an emergency there is, the more reasonable the search is.</p>
