Police guidelines regulating how strip searches are conducted should be made public, according to the Chamber of Advocates.

Newly-elected chamber president Reuben Balzan said making the guidelines public helped lawyers when giving advice to clients alleging that a search was carried out abusively. Only last week, the police turned down a request by The Times to see the 2002 guidelines, titled Searches On The Person, which list procedures to be followed by the police whenever a search on a person is required.

The request was made after two Sliema councillors – Martin Debono and Yves Bobby Calì – were made to strip naked before being interrogated some three weeks ago after being arrested on suspicion of making personal use of two laptops bought by the council and which were allegedly returned without the hard drive.

Top criminal lawyers have described strip searches as abusive and an act of intimidation unless performed when the police believe the person has something illegal on his person.

Dr Balzan said, while the police had to have all the necessary legal mechanisms to investigate crime, this “ought not to take place at the expense of the individual’s right to personal dignity”.

He noted that, although court judgements said the test to assess whether the suspicion on which the decision to search was reasonable had to be an objective one, in practice determining what was reasonable suspicion depended on the subjective understanding of the custody officer.

It was for this reason, Dr Balzan added, that publication of the guidelines was important to raise awareness of the rights of all those concerned.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com