Editor’s note: This series of articles is intended to be used as quick topic discussions at the beginning of any meeting. They are meant to create discussion among your teams and to get your officers thinking on their feet about training topics, in order to encourage learning and training.
Searches conducted will meet the following objectives:
- Ensuring the health of every detainee by preventing vermin from being attracted to living areas.
- Detecting the presence of weapons, escape devices’ or other contraband within the facility.
Exercise your authority, while being thorough and professional.
Search paper materials: Do not read material that looks like it may be legal documentation. Do look at the back of the pages while you thumb through it, searching for contraband.
Search everything: Detainees will try to manipulate you to skip parts of the search, seemingly make some items dangerous to search. Search everything anyway, paying attention to how detainees are manipulating you and confronting it at every opportunity.
Inspect cells: All cells will be inspected at least once per shift during normal activity hours. Cells will be inspected during non-activity hours if there is reasonable suspicion that activity is or has been taking place which would compromise the security, safety or cleanliness of individual cells.
