Saskatoon police strip search policy under scrutiny at fentanyl trafficking trial

A defence lawyer says drug trafficking charges against a Saskatoon woman should be stayed because police violated her rights by videotaping her strip search in detention cells.

Tanisha Velasquez was arrested and charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking in December 2021. She is scheduled to stand trial in March before Justice Krista Zerr at Court of King's Bench.

Prosecutor Andrea Curliss and defence lawyer Meagan Ward are making pre-trial motions this week in a voir dire, or trial within a trial, in advance of Velasquez's judge-alone trial.

On Tuesday, Ward cross-examined lead investigator Const. Kerisha Bird about what happened with Velasquez at the police station.

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Bird testified that she and another female officer strip searched Velasquez in a detention holding cell. Bird said she knew there were cameras in the holding cells. She said that she did not ask afterwards whether the camera was recording the search.

Portions of the search were played in court.

Under questioning, Bird said she knew that under Saskatoon police policy officers must prepare a written occurrence report outlining the reasons for the strip search and the manner in which it was conducted.

Bird said she did not take any notes or file any report. She added that it's usually the responsibility of the officer doing the search, in this case a special constable, to write the report. Bird said she did not check whether a report had been written.

Ward said in an interview that she first learned of the videotape in December. At that point, she indicated the defence would challenge the basis for the strip search.

On Jan. 15, Bird filed a supplementary report indicating Velasquez was strip searched in the holding cell because there were concerns she might have concealed fentanyl on her body and was at risk.

She confirmed that was the first time since Velasquez's arrest that her safety emerged as a reason for the search.

Bird also acknowledged that Velasquez had already been searched twice by officers — on her arrest and then again in detention —before being taken into the holding cell.

None of the searches turned up drugs or drug paraphenalia.

Ward said in an interview that the Supreme Court of Canada ruled two decades ago on the issue.

"Obviously, our courts have been pretty clear," she said.

"The Supreme Court [in R vs. Golden] many, many years ago was pretty clear about the importance of privacy in these types of strip searches. They're very traumatic. They can have a significant impact."

She is also concerned with when the information came to light, and what it says about police practices.

"I was shocked. I quite frankly was floored. I was floored that this was not something that was discovered earlier. And I was floored that the, you know, Saskatoon police in 2021 would engage in such behaviour," she said.

"I mean the just complete lack of documentation," she said. "No notes from anybody who's involved in these about the reasons that they were granted [permission]. No notes about how it was carried out. No indication that it was in a holding cell or that there was video in that holding cell.

"The fact that there seems to be an established practice of carrying these out in holding cells, which all of which appear to be video monitored so, I mean, there's some fairly significant concerns."

In November 2024, the Crown stayed drug trafficking and money laundering charges against Saskatoon twin brothers — one a dentist — and a woman after Saskatoon police botched a strip search.

"The Crown is directing a stay on all counts against all three accused," said a statement read in court.

"Aspects of strip searches by elements of the Saskatoon Police Service in 2021 reflected in this investigation did not comply with the requirements established by the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Golden."

Velasquez is scheduled to stand trial in March.