No female officer available, female suspect? What do you do?

[RSGSRT]

Like the title says.

Maybe this applies to small departments where no female LEO is even employed. What do you guys do if you have a female suspect that needs to be searched? Are there special circumstances where a male cop can search a female suspect, or is it a strict no no due to sexual harrassment suits?

Just another question that I've had in the back of my head. Thanks for reading.

[Presence 1*]

Any police officer can search any suspect, no matter what the gender of each is.

Female suspects can carry weapons and hurt you just as males do. Do you really think they just get let off without a search?

It just isn't feasible to call a female police officer to the scene every time a woman needs to be searched, and conversely, for me it would not be feasible to call a male officer to the scene every time I needed to search a male suspect.

Some females may try to make things difficult by demanding a female officer do the search, but I don't see any reason why you would have to heed their request unless you just felt like doing it to make things go smoother.

We also do all of our searches in front of the in-car video so there can be no question as to whether it was done properly (ie: no improper touches or squeezing). This also makes it impossible for the person to come back later and say they were handled improperly. (We may even inform them that "we are just going to come over here in front of the car where the camera is" so they don't get any ideas as we search them).

If I am arresting someone, they get searched just after handcuffing before i place them in the car, and then they get searched again once we get inside the jail, before I remove the cuffs. You can't be too careful.

A few weeks ago I showed up to pick up a guy from our drug squad, and searched him to put him in my car. As I was searching, he turned to one of the drug squad guys and said, "Shouldn't you be doing this? Is she allowed to do this?". I pulled his pants up real high and used the back of my hand to feel up in between his upper thighs and said, "Yes I am. Would you rather a guy do it?" When we got to the jail, a male officer did the second search, and he wasn't near as gentle as I was.

[StudChris]

If they're not available, you search them... but have witnesses.

Let me tell you a little story about the last time I let a female in the back of my car unsearched, just because there wasn't a female available. Basically, there were three people in the car. I arrest female driver for DUI, my buddy arrested back seat passenger for an assortment of drugs. I didn't search the female at all, again because there was no one available. My reasoning at the time? "Eh, just a crackhead, it's a non issue". Well low and behold, after my partner gets the other guy out at the jail, he finds a loaded .380 in the back seat. Turns out, guy number 3 (front seat passenger) had a gun on him, but is a convicted felon so decided to give the gun to someone else. (By the way, the guy who had the gun and was arrested was searched twice) Luckily, he gave it to the guy in the back seat, who was in possession of crack but was in the right mind enough to try to hide the gun instead of using it. There is no doubt in my mind that if he had given the gun to the driver right next to him, as cracked out as she was, I would have been shot dead in the back of the head on the way to the jail. Praise be to God that none of us are dead right now (that is, of course, except for the guy that did get charged with the drugs and gun... who promptly disposed of himself after bonding out).

So yes... if you can't find a female... search anyway, preferably with witnesses and a camera if available.

[Smurfette_76]

There's nothing that says a man can't search a woman, just be careful and either do it on camera or have witnesses. I search men all the time. It is what it is.

[careerchange#2]

I stand them infront of my car in plain view of my in-car camera and have a second officer witness the actions.

[Bully]

I just set up a pole and let her strip search herself.

[RSGSRT]

Thanks for the replies ladies and gents.

[NPSCop]

I searched 3 illegal aliens one time before transport. 2 male, 1 female. I was 25 miles from a paved road and even further from the nearest officer who could have helped. I cuffed all 3, searched the two males first and put them in the backseat of a caged unit. Searched the female last and then put her in the front seat. Glad I did it that way because the two males were pretty mad that I was searching the female and they made quite a ruckus once we got to the Border Patrol Station. Thankfully, they didn't do anything in the vehicle but look ****ed off. Had I searched her first I would have had a hell of a time getting the other two to comply. The cultural expectation for these individuals was much different than the legal expectation.

[candidateyellow]

It's a courtesy to have a female suspect be searched by a female officer, it is not a requirement.

[crass cop]

+1...
I had a female aresstee who I searched but she later pulled the "I gotta pee" routine. Told her she would be watched and she admitted she had bag of weed in her vagina....had a female officer from another agency respond to take it after she removed it in bathroom. BUT in general, I will search a female....if practical, ALWAYS in front of my car...."face the red light"

[crass cop]

HA! yep...very true. I know a few gals who will actually do.

[Smurfette_76]

Don't call it "suitcasing it" for nothing.

[janego10]

we are dissuaded from searching female suspects. if we have to we'll call another in from a neighboring city. We will sometimes have the female dispatchers do it. most of the time we ask them to pull their pockets inside out. If its during the day we'll get the school police female officers to check them out. I hate dealing with females.

[mikeymedic]

Don't have a choice. Good thing there are female deputy's at the jail. However, I never bring in an unsearched femal, only the one spot...and i just pray they can't get a gun up there and hold it while I do the squeat test.

[deputy x 2]

You catch em YOU clean em.

Everyone is taught how to properly search period. If I asked you to search my male in custody, somehow I'M not doing my job!

Don't be apprehensive to search EVERYWHERE cuz that is where they hide stuff. Life would suck, if you are driving to the station and you get a 158 grain asprin to the back of your head....all because you didn't want to touch there!