Cris Anthony C.

Durada

BS CRIM 2-6

CA1

ACTIVITY NO.7

Specific Functions of Searchers:

1. Searcher must aim for zero (0) contraband-slipping through him/her or smuggling into the jail facility
during his/her duty as searcher;

2. Must be professional, exercising prudence and sound judgment, respecting the rights of visitors or
personnel whom he or she subject to search;

3. Searcher shall be strict and firm in his/her decision but must his/her decision must be within the
purview of existing BJMP memoranda, rules, regulations and SOP’s;

4. Searcher must be impartial and must treat all visitors and personnel equally to avoid any
misunderstanding;

5. Observe courtesy to all visitors and/or personnel. Searcher must not be harsh and rude during his/her
duty and he or she must refrain from making any unnecessary comment/s on all visitors;
6. Any visitor whom he/she has observed to be under the influence of intoxicating beverages shall be
disallowed inside the jail facility;

7. Letters and all communications shall be thoroughly read and censored. Those which may affect
security or emotion of inmates the visitor intends to visits should not be given to the addressee;

8. He/she shall apprise any suspected visiting courier/s of contrabands of his/her or their right before
any bodily, strip or body cavity search will be done on him/her or them;

9. Strip or body cavity search shall be done professionally in the designated search room wherein the
searcher is accompanied by the duty personnel who supervises and witnesses search conducted. The
searcher must wear latex glove;

10. Whenever possible, the searcher must see to it that the person to be searched shall be accompanied
by another visitor who shall act as witness the procedures conducted;

11. Adheres to related laws (GAD and VAWC) as regard the procedures to be conducted and is sensitive
to the rights of the person to be subjected to search;

12. Searcher must not divulge any personal observation made on the subject’s body for whatever legal
purposes;

13. Let’s the visitors sign a waiver for the search he/she will undergo.

a. Refusal to sign any waiver means he/she shall not be allowed to enter the facility on that day he/she
shall be subjected to same procedure when he/she decides to return for a visit on other date.

b. Refusal for a visitor to have his belongings searched shall be a ground to disallow him/her entry to the
facility.

c. Upon approval of the warden or his authorized representative, personnel who shall refuse to be
searched likewise must not be allowed inside the facility;

d. Personnel shall likewise be subjected to strip search. However, the procedure must be done by the
warden, assistant warden or ranking officer whom he is under.

e. Refusal of personnel to undergo strip search will mean he/she will be disallowed to enter the facility
and if he/she is a duty custodial, he/she will be marked absent on that date. He/she shall undergo the
procedure the next day when reporting for work.
f. Personnel who refuse for two consecutive times to undergo strip search shall be charged accordingly;
that is, appropriate charged will be filed against them.

g. All vehicles must undergo intensive search before entry to and exit from the facility.

h. Relatives of personnel including those of the warden shall not be excluded from anybody search
before entering the facility.

14. Searcher must have at least one (1) buddy and shift supervisor during searches;

15. In cases where/when a contraband or contrabands is/are confiscated from any person or organic
personnel, the searcher shall immediately notify his/her buddy, and turn-over the contraband/s and
courier to the shift supervisor or any duty personnel. The latter shall immediately inform the warden.
The duty personnel must take photos of and document every detail of the search made

16. He or she shall inform the desk officer who shall record the incident in the logbook, stating every
minute-detail of the confiscation. This is done for documentary for documentary and evidentiary
purposes relative to the filing of filing of appropriate charge/s against the courier of the contraband/s;

17. The searcher and his or her witnesses must be committed to pursue the case filed against the
suspect;

18. Strictly implements SOP in the conduct of body searches on jail visitors and on the inspection of their
belongings;

19. Prepares and maintains an official record of inmate’s visitor/s;

20. Conducts body search on inmate’s visitors, personnel and other visitors who enter the jail facility
with their belongings likewise inspected;

21. Strictly implements the policies/guidelines pertaining to confiscated contrabands;

22. Performs strip search on all inmates prior to and after transport and before allowing the inmates to
enter his/her cell;
23. Strip searches shall be conducted by the personnel of the same gender as that of the inmate being
searched;

24. Prepares and submits report on any incident/s taking place within his/her