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Subscribe to RSSSeven officers and a supervisor at the Milwaukee police department have had their badges taken away after allegations surfaced that police have been conducting body cavity searches on suspects with no authority to do so.
Reports of officers arresting suspects then subjecting them to cavity searches first surfaced in local media in March. On Monday, after getting access to a police report, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that officers allegedly performed these searches on a routine basis.
One Milwaukee officer, Michael Vagnini, "had a reputation" for forcing suspects he believed had drugs in their body cavities to bend over for him, said defense attorney Alex Cossi, who handled a July 2011 case that alleges Vagnini searched his client and another suspect in the booking room.
"This was not a rogue happenstance. This was a tacit acceptance of strip searches without proper procedures or supervision," Cossi told The Journal Sentinel.
Vagnini found suspected cocaine "between (their) butt cheeks," the police report said.
Strip searches, which Wisconsin state law defines as searching "a detained person's genitals, pubic area, buttock or anus, or a detained female person's breast," can only be performed by a doctor, physician's assistant or registered nurse. The state law requires written permission before a strip search is conducted, unless there's probable cause to believe the suspect is hiding a weapon.
Cossi said his client was not provided with written documents before Vagnini performed the cavity search, which is a strip search involving penetration, on him. Because improper tactics were used to find the cocaine, the drug dealing charge against Cossi's client was thrown out, The Journal Sentinel reported.
It's not clear how many allegations of cavity searches the Police Department is facing.
"A number of people came forward so that we have many more complaints than we certainly started out with," Milwaukee police Chief Edward Flynn said at a news conference Wednesday on April 11. "Of those complaints, I'd say a significant majority of them are of a very similar nature, which indicates that we have more people to talk to than we initially had."
An improper strip search carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, according to Wisconsin law.
Vagnini, six other officers and a supervisor, Sgt. Jason Mucha, have had their badges and guns taken away while the department investigates the claims.
In March, an alleged victim came forward to speak to NBC's TMJ-4 to talk about his claim, which he said happened when he was only 15.
'They slammed me on the ground'
Kevin Freeman Jr. told TMJ-4 he and his friends were violated during a traffic stop in December.
"When they searched me they eased their hands right between my butt. I tried to reach back and soon as I tried to reach back to stop them, they slammed me on the ground," Freeman said.
It's illegal to conduct a body cavity search outside, where people other than the one conducting the search could see it taking place.
Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz told msnbc.com she could not comment on the matter since it was a pending investigation. Police chief Edward Flynn said in a news conference in March the cavity search complaints go back a couple of years. The department's internal investigation will determine whether searches violated department policy, state law, or both, The Journal Sentinel said.
Improperly conducted body searches can be construed under Wisconsin law as sexual assaults because of their invasive nature. It's not clear how much penetration allegedly occurred during the searches.
John Birdsall, a Milwaukee defense attorney, said that if the claims are true, police are abusing their authority.
"One thing is clear, if they're doing rectal searches in the field, that's just illegal," he told the Journal Sentinel. "Clothes or no clothes, you can't do a body cavity search. They don't have the authority to do that."
Milwaukee County prosecutors have launched a John Doe investigation, in which prosecutors can subpoena documents without public knowledge. The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office are monitoring the investigation, The Journal Sentinel reported, and could launch an investigation.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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The guy doing the illegal cavity searches is named "Vagnini"? How do you pernounce that?
Im sure he will get a great job at the TSA now. He will probably heading it up before the end of the year
Yes, it is very funny; unless it is you, your spouse or you child being illegally searched. I am all for stopping drug trafficking, but want it done in a legal manner. Now half the drug dealers/users who were facing charges will walk free..... all because some cops thought they were above the law. Disgusting!
Once again law enforcement in the US proves they ONLY hire from the lowest rung of the human ladder. Simply despicable behavior, IMHO.
Arizona's Arpio (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office) specialty is cavity seraches. they brag that is smells good at 120 degree.
Just pigs being pigs nothing new here. They must have raped the wrong person, someone with connections. They should have stuck to robbing and stealing and beating like normal pigs and they'd still have jobs
Sick
Wait...WHAT ?
No one here gonna scream that these ppl are only looking to make money by suing the Police ?
No one here denigrating the LAWYERS who are suing ?
Hey blondeness032,
You want to stop drug trafficking? Wake the F up and legalize it. You dont see anybody hiding Marlboros up their arses.
The officers in question are obviously a bunch of fudge packers. What a sick group of pervs.
How do you pronounce pernounce?
WHO ....Would want to do that... Sick Gross People That's the problem with Police... they are trained to do anything they want...thats why we get the sickos.. the ego driven wack jobs that want these Jobs. 90days and a 1000.00 Fine ??? what a JOKE.... how about 9 years and a 100,000 fine.. They got their Badges taken away boo...whoo... How about in Jail NOW!!!!.. til trial... oh wait their Cops ...Slap on the Wrist..... Class ACtion Multi million dollar Lawsuit...............Milwaukee.... Bankrupt
It's NOT funny. Have you ever been body cavity searched? Let me enlighten you. I'm pretty sure this is going to be collapsed but for people who have never been through it, maybe this will get across just how deumanizing and humiliating this is.
You're taken to a room where there are other people. They're watchng you, You're humiliated. They tell you to take all your clothes off, clothing, bra, underwear. An officer with a penlight tells you to open your mouth, and they stick a tongue depressor into your mouth to hold down your tongue, to look down your throat. Yoiu're told to tilt your head back so they can look up your nose and you'd better be flexible if you're significantly shorter than the person looking because you either have to tilt veryfar back or they will grab your chin and force your head back to look.
They use a lighted scope to look up your nose, your ears, then if you're a girl, they tell you to lace your fingers behind your head and they check to see if you might be hiding any contraband in any possible breast implants.
You're told to stand with your legs apart, open, and they put exam gloves on, then press their fingers as far into you as possible. Depending on who's doing the checking, you can have as many as three fingers into you at once. If the searcher 'thinks they feel something but my fingers aren't long enough to reach it' another searcher can put a glove on and reach into you too. You can have more than one person's hands inside you at one 'search'.
When they're satisfied there's nothing in your vagina (they don't ask if you're a virgin, nor do they care if you're bleeding when they're done) they move on. For the rectal check you're told to bend over the table, hold the edges, and open your legs, then cough. Sometimes this is enough; most times it's not. They'll stick their fingers into you sometimes with lubrication, sometimes without, and feel around. Sometimes if the guard is being polite, it's only one finger; at times it's two, sometimes three. And yes, it hurts. They feel around, and if you're lucky they pull out and you can get dressed. If they 'feel something' they'll push further, or even get someone else with longer fingers to check, and by the time they're satisfied that they are done, you hurt and they don't care if you bleed. They hand you underclothing and a sanitary pad and tell you to get dressed.
So now you ask how I know all this--I've been strip-searched before. In a detached, professional manner by female correctional officers during the year I was in jail, and then very unprofessionally by a variety of male deportation camp guards during the two years I spent in a private for-profit deportation camp. My crime? USCIS lost my adoption paper 18 years after my parents filed it, and I couldn't give them a copy because I was never told I was adopted (internationally) before Dad and Mom passed away in a car accident.
They couldn't deport me because I was stateless/undocumented prior to the adoption--an infant abandoned without a birth certificate.
They found the drugs. What bugs me is that the dealers now go free. Drugs, gangs, human trafficing,weapons trafficing - these are real problems in our nation and need to be stopped. Hey, if you're going to hide it there, you should expect to be searched there. I think the folks who thought to hide it there in the first place are the real gross sickos.
"The guy doing the illegal cavity searches is named "Vagnini"? How do you pernounce that?"
Haw! That is the first thing that came to mind!
Since the article says that under the law an improper search can be construed as a sexual assault, I wonder if the cops responsible will have to register as sex offenders? The whole thing is absolutely crazy, as it sounds like a sick fishing expedition to me.
b- why do you care if someone in (probably) another state who did not do anything to you, or anybody you know, goes free? There are far too many busybodies in this country that think they know the best way to live and feel they can enforce that by way of laws. That is why the drugs in question are illegal. It goes against everything this country was founded on to imprison Americans for possessing anything that wasn't stolen. If people like you would wake up and legalize these substances then people would have no reason to hide it there. Drug laws are anti American, unconstitutional, and fascist. I feel that people like you would be happier someplace else. Iran comes to mind. They don't have drugs there. In the mean time, the rest of us should take a step back and see that our nation has become the hypocrite of the ages. We call ourselves the "land of the free." "Liberty and justice for all." Horse puckey. We have less freedom now than we did under colonial rule. They didn't force colonists to subject themselves to cavity searches, now did they? They also grew cannabis by the square mile and there were no problems. We are so busy in everybody else's business that we have threw away many freedoms even our forefathers took for granted.
Amanda, my heart (and my prayers) go out to you. I have read many of your posts and the horror inflicted on you by our government makes me sick. I hope that things have worked out for you since then, and that those who chose to do that to you receive it back a hundred fold. God bless you and yours. Sincerely, Joel.
This Is NO Surprise. Cops nowadays are told by their bosses, The EVIL Rich, "Your Job is to Serve and Protect, Moron!! Serve We Rich and Protect Our Wealth!!!!" Police Officers, who were good and honorable guardians of the public trust are LONG GONE. What we have Now are Thug Killers with Badges and Guns who BeatUp, and Assassinate those they are told to kill at any given time for that EEZZZ $100,000p/year AND All the doughnuts and coffee they can WOLF Down. It WILL Happen, there will be a reckoning for this Batch like The French Revolution 1789 when the paid goons of the aristocrats were themselves arrested and given a "Blind Date" with THE MADAM.
It doesn't matter who's watching this, CIA, FBI, etc. Our law enforcement has gotten out of hand, against citizens, and no one cares enough to vote them out of office. Where were the FBI when the officer in Indian was twice the limit for alcohol and ran over three people, killing one. Then he was taken, get this, to a private medical facility where only police are tested????? People are citizens also, correct? So where in the constitution or law does it allow for police to be 'privately' tested?
Then, the test vile was signed out of evidence, by an unknown officer according to the prosecution and then opened? And then returned to evidence?
How many police reports read, during DUI stops: 'I approached the subject's vehicle and smelled alcohol.' ????????,Right? Yet, get this, there were twenty-four (24). Yes, 24 officers on the scene and not one admitted to smelling any alcohol. And the officer, AFTER BEING ALLOWED OVER TWO HOURS BEFORE BEING TESTED...STILL BLEW OVER TWICE THE LEGAL LIMIT.
And, now most charges have to be dropped including everythiing from DUI to 'MANSLAUGTHER'.
Wait, there's more.
Indianapolis Indiana Police Department are saying....even though they have their own private facility for testing. The attending orderly was NOT QUALIFIED to perform the test. Therefore, all charges associated with that testing must be dismissed.
Sounds to me like the police went to Wal-Mart and allowed the officer to use every coupon he could cut out...until the ending total was ZERO. The only good thing is he'll recieve no change for his purchases.
How can any orderly be placed is such a position and NOT BE QUALIFIED to take a simple blood test? I'll tell ya.................any and every facility owned by the police department...but paid for by our tax dollars.
Let the FBI answer that because the only thing I've heard, just like this case, is the FBI are watching the case. In not one instance have we seen any response given by the FBI. Only thing said was 'FBI' and all other names were changed to protect the guilty.
Its like in Minn the cops got a badge and they think they can do whatever they like, And then they wonder why people just HATE those S.O.B. I pitty anyone that thinks the COPS are good people if there is you got 1 out of 10 thats the best rating they can get,
Kevin
Your story doesn't pass the smell test. While I can believe that a cop could run over three people, the rest is BS. You wouldn't be privy to the "facts" as you state them, also the liberal press would have been all over this story for at least a week.
As far as strip searches go, you needn't worry about them if you don't put yourself in a situation where you're under suspicion, and even you are searched get over it. I was strip searched about 30 years ago crossing into Canada and after about five minutes it was over, and I continued on my way, I was probably singled out because of my long hair. No harm, no foul.
Cop haters all y'all......
Vagnini is pronounced "ASSS-HOLE"
90 days in jail and a $1000 fine? More like federal prosecution for violation of these peoples civil rights.
@Johnnyonthespot
How about the hundreds that have been let off death row or the THOUSANDS who have spent from a year to decades behind bars for crimes they if fact DID NOT COMMIT??? They hadn't done a thing wrong yet they fell under suspicion anyhow and were ultimately convicted and sent off to either be executed (murdered by the state and the people it represents in other words) or to rot for years for being citizens who obeyed the law only to be sent to death or prison for doing just that, obeying the law!!!!!
Just try it one time, get yourself stopped by a cop who feels it is his/her duty to find what it is you are doing that is illegal (some of them believe everyone but themselves are criminals who mustbe caught regardless of the means necessary to do so) and when the cannot find out what it is you are doing they then simply just make something up or plant evidence and then do what the prosecutors have honed them to do and do better then anyone else in this country, lie their ass off to gouge you and gouge you deep and then set back and relish in what they think is making society safer when in fact it is doing just the opposite because record numbers of people now have little to zero trust or faith in the police or criminal justice system peiod!!!
I heard the TSA has been calling these officers non-stop, offering them management positions in any airport they choose, they'd cover relocation as well!
Cops are corrupt especially in Casper Wyo the govnt flooded out Casper Wyoming with meth in the 90s and know they used it to get the crime rate to go up so they could justify building more prisons bigger jails and more bull @!$%# laws so people wake up they use stealth helicoptors all through the nintys also and hovering over peoples houses makeing sound effects to @!$%# with people lives . So body searches are the least of our problems.
The Bloomfield Township, MI police used to routinely strip search juveniles without even verbal consent looking for drugs back in the 1970s too!
What is the big deal. In San Fransisco body cavity searches are considered a prisoners right.
And the police will "get off" on these charges.
perhaps they already GOT OFF
You can't believe all the stuff this Gestapo force does under cover of law. Google "milwaukee police atrocities" and see for yourself.
Remember that Shakespeare said "First, kill all the lawyers" - that was because they were planning to take away the people's rights.
The only thing stopping these cops are LAWYERS.
The only thing stopping drug companies from selling harmful drugs are LAWYERS.
The only thing stopping car companies from making dangerous cars are the LAWYERS.
The only people destroying the Constitution are LAWYERS
The only people passing idiotic laws are LAWYERS
The people that enacted the USA Patriot Act are LAWYERS
The nine fascists on the Supreme Court are all LAWYERS
Two sides to every story...
"The only people destroying the Constitution are LAWYERS" The only people passing idiotic laws are LAWYERS
The people that enacted the USA Patriot Act are LAWYERS"
Most politicians are lawyers, JoeMike, so, they'd be the ppl "destroying" the constitution - NOT because they're lawyers, but because the are politicians. The "real" lawyers brought you "Miranda", "Roe" and Brown v. Board of Education"
You just dont find many high school drop outs running for congress - does that surprise you ?, AND, more so, These "constitution destroying" politicians couldnt BE politicians if the MAJORITY of voters didnt VOTE them in. (THAT would include YOU....that is, IF you vote)
"The nine fascists on the Supreme Court are all LAWYERS"
W-e-l-l, JoeMike..much as it dismays, the fact is, I'm a tad more comfortable with a JUDGE having first been a lawyer....or would you rather the Judge pool come from McDonald's ?
You just can't make stuff like this up, talk about over stepping your boundaries, if he gets time for this he will definitely find out what it was like to be on the receiving end of his searches.
wonder if they'll get him lipstick.. or a chap stick LOL
Yeah how about his Super Sgt. Mucha. So now we have Mucho Vag-nini, boy that is a bunch of idiots. I suppose there was another cop named (Harry)Hairy or Red
Lock them up with a face eater please
Get time ,are you kidding?.
How can this not be sexual assault? Crimes against the public by law enforcement seem to be happening much more frequently than in the past.
They have been happening for years, people are just speaking out more.
only because they get protected by the court... so that's where we need to help protest the court/trial ask for the judge to recuse himself if he has ever dismissed these kind of charges at any time..
They do this because they know they can get away with it, because if you resist while in their custody or try to prevent it they will slap a charge of either resisting arrest or assault on a police officer and in this case who is the judge gonna believe? because a police officer would "NEVER LIE" while under oath in court.
yeah right never lie
Our police force is made up of a bunch of perverted, sadistic control freaks who get off humiliating and abusing people they are supposed to be protecting.
Is that a self portrait?
I am disappointed in you David, you don't even recognize your idol Rush Limbaugh. I guess for you it would be hard to tell it is him from this angle, most of the time you see him you are under his desk with your mouth full.
class, can we all say vagina
So now the criminal element can get develop an understanding for what the law-abiding, tax-paying citizenry is having done to them by the rest of the government...
These laws are unconstitutional. No adult should have the government telling them what they can imbibe. Or be enduring these searched and harrassments. These laws are destroying our society. They have turn countless people against the government. Financed massive organized crime rings. And saddled millions of people with criminal records.
Only a small percentage of people become addicted to drugs. They should be treated medically. Everyone else, it should be treated like you treat alcohol. Decriminalized and controlled.
These laws have also drawn every bully, pervert, and control freak in the country to join the force, and now you have rogue police everywhere abusing people under the guise of searching for drugs.
You must understand something, these are "Law Officers" which means "Do things my way and as I say, I am above the law."
so what
Oh well! Why don't they stay away from illegal drug?
Ah, so only police are allowed to break the law?
An appropriate name if there ever was one.
hhahahahahahha,i love this,@!$%# them ass holes,think they are above the law,cause they are the law,serves them rights,karma you @!$%#ers,now you will never be acop again,i should become a cop,to show not all them are dick heads,@!$%# dont think it will be that hard.
let's work on your grammar first. then we can talk about your potential in a professional career?
Well if obama can get to the white/black house you should have no problem joining the ranks.
Here we go again, thugs with badges breaking the law and forcing people to suffer because they can, can you spell Gestapo.
I know that pigs like the smell of dung, so thats why they love cavity searches, they don't get it home, so they go where else the booking room. Maybe they though it was crack...............whoa.......
let me guess. these pos cops are probably on PAID administrative leave and will only get a letter of reprimand on their files then its back to work as normal, harassing citizens!!
Sounds about right.
yep-paid administrative leave. sitting around sipping boat drinks, laughing about it, betting each other who can stick their hand up more people's asses as soon as they get back to work.
Were they looking for cheese? Or perhaps a union member seeking a recall vote?
Well, Vagnini, you will soon find out about the word weenie. Or, as they will be telling you in prison "bare it and share it". It's your own fault butt wipe for abusing powers the people trusted you with. You ruined your life, and other officers who followed in your footsteps. Prepare for the penetrating lifestyle you're headed for.
No butt sex for vagnini. They put cops in a special part of the prison so the can buy extra goodies & cell phones from the CO's that hang out with them.
Carl,this cop will be transfered to another department and do the same thing again,he will never see one day in jail.
And so, more proof of the ever-growing number of inept, bloated, idiotic swine that comb our streets.
Hanging out with VD
S F loves it thats why you never here about it, thats just an every day thing.
sooooooo they found drugs? on the drug dealer? and we want to go after the cops? sounds like the u.s.
if suspects are not searched in this manner they will have time to dispence and destroy the evidence. I have yet to see anyone innocent of criminal charges having been offended. I think that when you commit a crime and are caught dead to rights there are a few priviledges lost. like your personal cavities. chances are your goign away long enough and you should consider the police a warm up to what your about to recieve from your new roomates.
hey, since you believe in anal rape as a punishment , even before any arrest is made, I assume you are also against gay rights?
So you are saying the cops should be allowed to break the law since they have a feeling someone may be breaking the law?
The cops have been caught breaking a law, what do you think the punishment should be?
It also sounds like you think rape is a good thing. The new roomates comment. Interesting. You hate drugs, but your ok with illegal searches, and rape.
MAddog.
Your ignorance is ASTOUNDING.
Your argument re destruction of evidence is way off base. IF there is probable cause, the person is taken into custody and placed in a cell without a toilet, while the WARRANT is obtained, after which, (as the article states, or cant you read) a doctor, nurse or other authorized person conducts the search.
Do you REALLY advocate being able to bend someone over (male or female) a squad car in PUBLIC on mere suspicion ?
Equally MORONIC is your statement " I have yet to see anyone innocent of criminal charges having been offended." Really ? sooo, if Officer vagina takes your wife (on mere suspicion), bends her over and gives her a pelvic, and nothing is found, neither you, nor she would be offended, right ? Just the price you pay to be a law abiding citizen, right ?
And what about those who are innocent of any wrongdoing? There are civil rights and there are human rights. The right not to have someone shove their fingers into you is a human right. You want to see someone who is innocent of criminal charges offended? Right here.
You don't stick your hand up the A$$ crack of a 15 year old boy out in the streets. There has to be a limit maddog. Besides there is a proper procedure to check for drugs all the officer had to do was follow it.
Keep voting for republicans, so they can stack the courts with republican political activists. And the bashing of individual rights will continue.And I really doubt much will come from any investigation. Any prosecutor who P.Off the cos will have trouble winning any case on the testimony of a cop. And prosecutors are elected you know, cop unions throw big money for their supporters, and against those dirt bag civil libertarians.All that sneeded now is for limbaugh or some other idiot to start crying how the cops rights are being violated, because the "criminals" got off from a 'Liberal" loophole.
Freaking ass pirates is all they are, they were not looking for drugs!
just do poo poo all over the po po when they search ! crappy coppers