Conducting a thorough post-arrest search can save you some embarrassment, and it can even save your life.
Take, for example, the simple shoplifting case that two officers on my shift handled this week. The manager at a local store detained a man for stealing about $20 in merchandise. This is typically a “low-risk” call, as the suspect who will fight will rarely stick around until the cops get there. However, after being arrested, the officers find multiple weapons on the suspect, including a balisong (butterfly knife) and a .25 pistol.
I’ve talked before about Hank Earl Carr, a murderous piece of human debris, who retrieved a concealed handcuff key after he had been arrested, and freed himself. Subsequently, he murdered two Tampa police detectives and a trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol. Had the handcuff key been found, it is unlikely he would have escaped and killed those officers.
A similar situation happened with another Florida agency this past weekend. In this case, a deputy arrested a man for theft. The suspect, knowing he was likely to be arrested, concealed a handcuff key in his pocket. After arrest, the man was able to access the key and unlock the handcuffs. The man asked the deputy to roll down the window so he could spit, and when the deputy did so, the suspect was able to open the door from the exterior and flee.
Obviously, a more thorough search may have located the concealed key. The deputy also made another mistake, as he allowed himself to be distracted from watching his prisoner during transport, by pulling through the McDonald’s drive through and ordering up some breakfast! It is likely that during the ordering process, the prisoner would have had ample time to unlock the cuffs without attracting the deputy’s attention.
Think about what would have happened if the deputy also missed a small pistol, like the .25 my fellow officers pulled off of their shoplifting suspect. There is a good chance that the hungry deputy would be dead rather than embarrassed.
Make sure you conduct a thorough search of every prisoner, every time. Pull their pockets inside out, check their mouths, have them step out of their shoes, and closely check the area between their belt line and groin. If you find one weapon, keep searching! Criminals are likely to carry more than one weapon, as illustrated by the criminal in the first example.
Oh, and when transporting a prisoner…avoid the McDonald’s drive through.
Stay safe!
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Hello, I had asked about a possible review of the 5.11 light for life a little while ago but I have been looking at other lights lately as well and I was wondering if you had heard anything or had used either of the new Pelican lights (7060 or 8060). I like the features of both lights but I don’t know which one would be better. The 7060 could be used as both a duty light and tactical light because it is small and it would be easier to keep on my belt (it also has a tail switch along with the normal switch behind the lamp) but it has a shorter run time (1.5 hours), lower lumens (130), and only a single battery option (internal recharcheable lithium ion). The 8060 is great because it is BRIGHT (almost 200 lumens), it has a 4 hour run time, and it allows the rechargeable pack to be replaced with 4 C-cell batteries and extend the use for another 11 hours! However, the 8060 it pretty big, more expensive, and I will probably have to have another light (small tactical light) for clearing buildings and such. Price points look like around $100 for the 7060 and about $130-$150 for the 8060. I will be working 4, 10 hour shifts each week, in a city of about 130,000.
Do you have any suggestions, ideas, or comments on these lights? Thanks a million.
A New Cop
[...] Previously, I recounted a story where officers on my shift responded to a misdemeanor shoplifting call and found a gun and knife on the suspect. [...]