Policy Text
TOM DaRé , CHIEF OF POLICE
Professional Standards Division NUMBER: 2019 -08
ISSUED: December 13 , 2019
Strip Search / Visual Bodily Cavity Search
This Training Bulletin is a reminder of the procedures that sworn officers, jail staff, or female
matrons are to ad here to when completing a strip search or visual bodily cavity search of an
arrestee. General Order 10.4 – Arrestee Processing covers the processing and searching of
prisoners, to include a “strip or visual body cavity search”.
California Penal Code 4030 states:
(b) The provisions o f this section shall apply only to prearraignment detainees arrested for infraction
or misdemeanor offenses and to any minor detained prior to a detention hearing on the grounds that
he or she is a person described in Section 300 , 601 , or 602 of th e Welfare and Institutions
Code alleged to have committed a misdemeanor or infraction offense. The provisions of this section
shall not apply to a person in the custody of the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation or the Director o f the Division of Juvenile Justice in the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation.
(c) As used in this section the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “Body cavity” only means the stomach or rectal cavity of a person, and vagina of a female person.
(2) “Physical body cavity search” means physical intrusion into a body cavity for the purpose of
discovering any object concealed in the body cavity.
(3) “Strip search” means a search which requires a person to remove or arrange some or all
of his or her clothing so as to permit a visual inspection of the underclothing, breasts,
buttocks, or genitalia of such person.
(4) “Visual body cavity search” means visual inspection of a body cavity .
(d)(1) Notwithstanding any other law, including Section 40304.5 of the Vehicle Code , if a person is
arrested and taken into custody, that person may be subjected to patdown searches, metal detector
searches, body scanners, and thorough clothing searches in order to discover and retrieve concealed
weapons and contraband substances prior to being placed in a booking cell. TRAINING BULLETIN
(2) An agency that utilizes a body scanner pursuant to this subdivision shall endeavor to avoid
knowingly using a body scanner to scan a woman who is pregnant.
(e) A person arrested and held in custody on a misdemeanor or infraction offense, except
those involving weapons, controlled substances, or violence, or a minor detained prior to a
detention hearing on the grounds that he or she is a person described in Section
300 , 601 , or 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code , except for those minors alleged to
have committed felonies or offenses involving weapons, controlled substances, or violence,
shall not be subjected to a strip search or visual body cavity search prior to pla cement in the
general jail population, unless a peace officer has determined there is reasonable suspicion,
based on specific and articulable facts, to believe that person is concealing a weapon or
contraband, and a strip search will result in the discover y of the weapon or contraband. A
strip search or visual body cavity search, or both, shall not be conducted without the prior
written authorization of the supervising officer on duty. The authorization shall include the
specific and articulable facts and circumstances upon which the reasonable suspicion
determination was made by the supervisor.
(f)(1) Except pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2), a person arrested and held in custody on a
misdemeanor or infraction offense not involving weapons, cont rolled substances, or violence, shall
not be confined in the general jail population unless all of the following are true:
(A) The person is not cited and released.
(B) The person is not released on his or her own recognizance pursuant to Article 9 (commencing
with Section 1318 ) of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of Part 2.
(C) The person is not able to post bail within a reasonable time, not less than three hours.
(2) A person shall not be housed in the general jail population prior to release pursuant to the
provisions of paragraph (1) unless a documented emergency exists and there is no reasonable
alternative to that placement. The person shall be placed in the general population only upon prior
written authorization documenting the specific facts and circums tances of the emergency. The
written authorization shall be signed by the uniformed supervisor of the facility or by a uniformed
watch commander. A person confined in the general jail population pursuant to paragraph (1) shall
retain all rights to releas e on citation, his or her own recognizance, or bail that were preempted as a
consequence of the emergency.
(g) A person arrested on a misdemeanor or infraction offense, or a minor described in
subdivision (b), shall not be subjected to a physical body cavi ty search except under the
authority of a search warrant issued by a magistrate specifically authorizing the physical body
cavity search.
(h) A copy of the prior written authorization required by subdivisions (e) and (f) and the
search warrant required by subdivision (g) shall be placed in the agency's records and made
available, on request, to the person searched or his or her authorized representative. With
regard to a strip search or visual or physical body cavity search, the time, date, and place of
the search, the name and sex of the person conducting the