newjerseynewsroom.com

Agreement will cost town as much as $38,000

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Cherry Hill officials have reached a settlement with a Philadelphia woman who sued after she was videotaped using a toilet in their headquarters.

As a part of the settlement agreement, the township will be required to make several minor changes, such as posting signs outside holding cells warning detainees that the toilets within are monitored by a surveillance camera.

The Associated Press reports the woman had been arrested on drunken driving charges in March 2009.

According to Philly.com, the Philadelphia woman subsequently pleaded guilty by refusing to take a breath test after police pulled her over on Route 70. Her name was not released.

According to the Cherry Hill Sun, the woman maintained that there were no signs reading that there was a recording device in the restroom and nobody revealed to her that she would be monitored. She used the restroom twice during the night, the lawsuit maintained, and she was subjected to videotaping both times.

Haddonfield attorney Joseph Osefchen, who filed the class-action suit in March on behalf of the woman identified in court records as "Gretchen W," told the Courier Post he was pleased with the agreement and that it should prevent others from using the bathroom without knowing they are being filmed.

While Cherry Hill officials still feel the current surveillance system meets state standards, township Chief of Staff Dan Keashen said it made "financial sense" to reach the agreement.

The videotape came to light when the prosecution team for Cherry Hill presented a DVD as evidence to the defense during a hearing.

Police departments have varying policies on whether or not arrestees are videotaped using toilets in holding cells. Keashen said Cherry Hill's department passed several state Department of Correction's inspections prior to the incident. But he added the town is agreeable to the changes.

Along with posting signs outside the holding cells, the settlement requires the township to expand the "black bar" area of the surveillance tapes designed to block out the genital area. The township has also agreed to pay $21,000 in legal fees and up to $7,000 to the woman.

She was also awarded several thousand dollars in attorney fees to be paid by the township. The township will pay her $31,000 in legal fees and possibly an additional $7,000 for other expenses, Osefchen said.

Keashen said the settlement amounts will be paid for by the township's insurance provider. A federal judge still needs to approve the settlement.