Methadone
Clinic
Sues
Fairfax
Police
9/18/98
On August 14, the Fairfax police department presented a warrant to search the Fairfax Methadone Treatment Clinic in connection with a stolen car which had been park in the vicinity of the center. During the search, which lasted for about four hours, 8-10 officers seized patient files, wrote down confidential information and collected license plate numbers in the parking lot. Patients arriving to receive their treatment were turned away at the door and when a nurse objected to the search she was threatened with being arrested. After the search was over, the staff of the treatment clinic were left to pick up the pieces of the clients' broken confidence. The Fairfax Methadone Treatment Clinic has chosen to file a civil rights suit against the Fairfax Police Department. This search is not the first time the Fairfax police have come to the clinic looking for patient information, according to David Tripp, the attorney representing the clinic. Patient records are protected under federal law against this type of seizure. "People who take the extraordinarily difficult step to seek drug addiction treatment are protected under federal statute," Tripp told The Week Online. The clinic is looking for assurances that there will be no more of these privacy violations and that all the material seized is returned to the clinic. "We want to make sure that the patient information is not sitting in some database for future use," commented Tripp. He explains that the warrant was unconstitutionally broad and that the officers used this opportunity to get information on clients they knew they could not obtain by any other means. The stolen vehicle was part of a jewelry robbery investigation in the area. The suspect the police were looking for was reported to be a white man. Patient files of black males were also seized during the search. Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, called the search "one of the most outrageous violations of the 4th amendment I have ever witnessed." Police many times become overzealous when investigating a crime, and it is the job of the magistrate to protect citizens' rights. "The magistrate was either asleep at the wheel or unaware of the 4th amendment when he granted that warrant." As program director of the clinic, Ofelia Sellati has had to deal with the lost trust of the patients. "Many of them are angry and stunned by the action. Some are taking legal action of their own," she told The Week Online. "This has affected the goodwill of our business. Clients come to us and we promise to protect their confidence. We can no longer promise that. Who would have thought that the police would show up and shatter that goodwill and trust? Drug treatment is built on trust. Where do we go from here?"
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