A young woman claims she endured a “traumatic” and “sickening” 28 hours in custody after Chatham police made her remove her bra, and later appear braless before a judge.

“It’s embarrassing, it really is, for me and for my family,” Tara Fice, 22, told the Star Tuesday. “They made me feel like I wasn’t a human being.”

The alleged events came to light Tuesday, the same day the Chatham-Kent Police Service announced an internal review of its policy to remove brassieres from women held in custody. The review follows a separate case where a lower court judge chastised the force for directing another woman to remove her bra before taking a breathalyzer test.

The move came too late for some, with civil and women’s rights advocates roundly criticizing the practice.

Some police departments view underwire bras as possible ligatures that could be used for self-strangulation, or harming officers or cellmates.

Fice, a Lambton College student who lives south of Sarnia, was arrested at her boyfriend’s home on charges of dangerous driving and mischief Sunday morning, court staff said.

At the station, officers had her remove her bra and placed her in a cell, she says, where they held her until Monday morning.

The Star has not been able to verify her allegations and Chatham police did not respond when asked about each of her claims.

Fice alleges an officer entered her cell repeatedly in the night and told her to fully undress.

“The guy came in and said that I needed to take off all my clothes and that I was on suicide watch,” she said, her voice breaking. She denies any threats of self-harm and says she was fully sober.

She says she wound up “curled in a ball” on the concrete floor, half-covered in the jumpsuit they provided — which she says she took off at the officer’s insistence — with nothing else on but shorts and underwear.

On Monday, police brought her to the courthouse for her bail hearing where she says she appeared braless before a judge, clerks, lawyers, her family and community members.

“It was sickening,” Fice said. “I thought stuff like that was only in movies, it was so traumatic.”

In a statement Tuesday, Chief Gary Conn addressed an Ontario Court of Justice decision last week to dismiss an impaired driving charge against another Chatham woman due to several Charter of Rights and Freedoms violations by local police, who had demanded the mother — a school teacher — remove her bra for a breath test.

“In this particular case, our primary concern was safety and the taking of clothing which could be used as ligatures for self-harm or strangulation,” Conn stated.

“(A)lthough I can appreciate there being a level of anxiety associated with one being taken into custody, searched and charged with a criminal offence, I fully support the actions and professionalism taken by our officers during this particular incident.”

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services rubberstamped the Chatham force’s procedures on prisoner care and control in a 2011 audit, though it did not explicitly endorse the policy on bra removal.

A ministry guideline recommends police chiefs seize “any personal property with which a prisoner could cause harm,” specifying belts, ties and shoelaces. “It does not specify undergarments,” said spokesperson Greg Flood.

The police chief told Postmedia a woman tried to strangle herself in custody in the early 1990s, triggering the policy.

Fice’s mother Tammy Ross, who was in court when her daughter’s bra was returned in a sealed evidence bag along with her cellphone and hair elastic, called the ordeal “very upsetting.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Brad Dinning, Fice’s paralegal, said she’d never been in trouble with police. He said bra removals are “not a thing they should have a right to do.”

Civil liberties advocates agree, viewing the practice as a violation of Section 8 Charter rights protecting against unreasonable search and seizure.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that a woman would be required to remove her bra for a court appearance or to take a breathalyzer test,” said Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

Pate called the process “degrading” and “humiliating,” and warranted only in the face of serious risk of self-injury or harm to others.

Abby Deshman, director of the public safety program with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association deemed bra seizures “invasive.”

“To force a woman to appear in court without her bra is a very serious violation of physical integrity and privacy,” Deschman said.

“Even if a more thorough search is justified, it’s hard for me to imagine how you’d need to confiscate all bras.”

The Toronto and Ottawa police departments and the Ontario Provincial Police handle searches and seizures on a “case-by-case” basis. Even with “level three” searches — involving clothing removal and “inspection of the body” to detect ligatures, weapons, tools or evidence — bras are often returned to an accused, especially by the time she appears in court, said Toronto police spokesperson Shane Branton.

Vancouver police, however, ask everyone taken into custody remove clothing items including bras, shoe laces and belts for safety reasons, said spokesperson Sgt. Randy Fincham

Joe Couto, Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police spokesperson, noted “anything that might be used as a ligature, anything that could be twisted or cause harm to the individual” is ripe for removal.

The Star was unable to confirm whether the bra-seizure issue was raised in court.

Fice’s legal counsel said they were mulling how to move forward to fight the charges. Her duty counsel could not be reached by the Star.