Question for all you C/Os

[Titansfanmjfink]

I'm a detention officer at a city jail and wanted to ask you guys about prison procedure. When a new prisoner is arrested and brought in (we'll say he came straight to you and didnt make a stop at city joint) how does the search/property seizure go?

Obviously the cop already searched him, so when he comes in do you let him empty what he may have in his pockets then do a pat down/strip search (whatever your policy is). I ask because in our jail, when someone is brought in they are uncuffed, and told to empty their pockets into a property bin. Once they have, they are then patted down. This all seems bassackwards to me. I know the police officer already searched the turd and SHOULD have seized any kind of weapons. But we all know that doesn't happen all the time.

It seems more like we should bring them in, pat them down first (which should be at least the second one) and then empty their pockets for them. Any thoughts?

[Joeyd6]

Good question, but rethink your point of view.

I as a cop and human. I make mistakes. Any cop may miss a weapon or contraband. It happens. So recheck the perp. I was a new cop and was asked to transport a perp from the precinct holding cell to the correctional facility. He was in the holding cell for 6 hours, and was previously searched upon n arrest in the field and given a thorough search in front of the desk Sgt. at the precinct and placed in the cell by a cop with 12 years on who was very street smart.

I did not want to offend the cop or boss when we took him out of the holding cell. Another rook and I put him right in a car shackled and restrained to the correction facility. We uncuffed him inside and walked him through all the processing stations, up and down stair, through hallways and gates, all uncuffed. We get to the last point where they are logged in and searched by a CO. CO has him take off shoes and bangs them Out comes 3 razor blades, a crack pipe with push rod and four diem bags! :eek: I swear I almost crapped myself. The CO was pissed and knew I was just as shocked. he asked what happened and I told him. He gave us the stuff and we went back to the precinct.

I walked in and threw the crap at the cop and thanked him out loud for almost getting us killed and making us look like idiots. he apologized. From that point forward, Every time I get a new perp for any reason, I search them like they have never been searched.

[Titansfanmjfink]

Thats exactly my point, at my PD our policy is to allow the arrestee to empty their pockets before we search them. It makes more sense to search them first that way, if they have something, I find it before they can get to it.

[Lawson]

Out comes 3 razor blades, a crack pipe with push rod and four diem bags!

I walked in and threw the crap at the cop

"I threw razor blades and a crack pipe at a cop, can I still be an LEO?" :D :p

[manahmanah]

When I was a Deputy (I'm now a Police Officer) working intake at the jail, the arresting agency would bring their suspect into the booking sallyport. Once there, I would do a thorough search of the suspect (before his or her cuffs were off), have them sit on the floor and remove their shoes and socks, search them.

If drugs were found on the suspect the drug charges would be added to whatever he was being booked for. I searched this way in case there was a weapon found the suspect would not be able to use it.

The hand cuffs would not come off of the suspect until I was certain there were no weapons on him or her.

If the suspect was being combative to begin with we'd search them as thoroughly as possible, throw them in a safety cell, and before taking the arresting officer's cuffs off, place ours on the suspect.

If you feel your agency's procedures are contradictory to officer safety you need to speak with the Training Sgt. Just make sure you have some solutions to the problems and why you think they need to be changed. Nothing should ever compromise officer safety, EVER.

What you should do is look at your department's policy manual. Is it written in the manual that that is the way intakes are to be done, or is that just the way people have been doing it? If it is NOT policy to conduct fresh intakes that way there is nothing preventing you from doing it in a safer way. You should also bring this issue up to your training sergeant and officer safety instructors.

Just because something has been done for a certain way for a long time does not make it the correct way of doing it. Unfortunately in law enforcement, most of the lessons we've learned have been written in blood. You can be the one that prevents something tragic from happening at your jail to you or one of your partners. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Be safe and let us know how it goes.

[Movementarian]

All Federal detainees are strip-searched upon entering a BOP facility.

[Samuel]

We recently had a newly booked inmate make it almost all the way through our reception/intake process with a fully loaded S&W 5 shot revolver. It was hidden in his fake leg. He claimed his leg was non-removeable and everyone took his word for it. The outside agency (non-LASD) who arrested him missed it and so did the custody deputies. They only found out when another inmate told deputies that the suspect had been bragging about possessing a loaded firearm.

Search them all. Search them like you're contacting them on the street for the first time. Search them like you know they have a gun, a knife, And drugs hidden somewhere on them.

If you miss something prior to handing a suspect to someone else, don't be (that) mad at whomever may have handed the suspect to you, be more mad at yourself for missing something you should have found...