Toronto police strip searched roughly 60 per cent of the people they arrested in 2010, compared to 32 per cent 10 years ago, according to police statistics.

Previously released figures show the number of strip searches performed by police have been steadily increasing since 2001, leading police critic and former mayor John Sewell to charge the practice is now so widespread it is “routine.”

“If it was routine, it would be 100 per cent,” said Police Chief Bill Blair following Sewell’s deputation to the Toronto Police Services Board on Thursday, where the latest figures were released.

Sewell argued the practice is being used increasingly to demean and humiliate prisoners, and not for any evidentiary or practical purpose. He asked the police board at a previous meeting to release the number of “Level 3” and “Level 4” searches performed by Toronto police in the last two years.

A Level 3 search involves removal of some or all of a person’s clothing, including undergarments, and a visual inspection of the prisoner’s body by two police officers of the same gender.

A Level 4 search is a body cavity search, which must be performed by a medical professional and is very rare.

Police conducted 29,821 levels 3 and 4 searches in 2009 and 31,110 in 2010. In 2001, by comparison, police conducted 22,659 such searches. That year, however, there were far more arrests: 70,898 in 2001, compared to roughly 50,000 in 2010.

Blair said the increase in frequency of searches — from 32 per cent in 2001 to about 60 per cent in 2010 — is due to better recordkeeping.

“What you’re seeing now is far more detailed accounting,” Blair said

Following a request by Sewell in 2005, the police board directed the force to more accurately record searches.

Strip searches are “inherently humiliating and degrading,” according to the Supreme Court of Canada, which has set out strict guidelines on when they can be performed. Officers must have reasonable grounds to suspect the prisoner is concealing weapons or evidence; must also seek authorization from a supervisor; and keep proper records of the search.

Blair said his officers are following the direction of the courts, and every situation is assessed on a “case-by-case” basis.

“Mr. Sewell, without looking at those matters, has drawn a very generalized conclusion from the numbers that it’s routine.”

In 70 per cent of the strip searches performed in 2010, no items were found, according to the statistics.

Sewell said this suggests officers should be conducting more “Level 2” searches, or frisking.

“Most of the time you’ll find what you would have found in a strip search.”

Sewell said the latest statistics follow a general trend in policing towards increased strip searches.

Ottawa police Sgt. Steven Desjourdy was charged with sexual assault earlier this year following a high-profile case in which video evidence showed male officers holding down a female prisoner while another officer cut off her clothes.

Last month, the Star reported on the case of Sean Salvati, a 33-year-old paralegal who claims he was strip searched, beaten and denied access to a lawyer after he was arrested for public intoxication in the days leading up to the G20 summit.

A video of Salvati’s arrest, obtained by his lawyer through Freedom of Information laws, shows Salvati being led from an interrogation room by three officers and escorted naked past a female officer.

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The charge against Salvati was never filed in court. He is suing the Toronto Police Services Board, the attorney general of Canada and four Toronto police officers for $75,000 alleging false arrest and imprisonment.

Salvati’s allegations have not yet been proven in court and no statements of defence have been filed.

Last month, a judge found that Peel police officers conducted an illegal strip search of a man in order to “humiliate and intimidate” him, and then tried to cover up what they had done.

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