SEARCH A DETAINEE
Conditions: Given individual equipment, weapon, a detainee, disposable restraints, and a guard.
Understanding This Task
You must position, restrain, and thoroughly search a detainee while maintaining control and humane treatment. The guard provides security from an oblique angle on the opposite side being searched.
Bending and crushing technique: Bend all seams (checking for razor blades) and grasp/squeeze loose clothing throughout the search.
Movement rule: Always move around the detainee's HEAD, never between the detainee and the guard.
Common NO-GO Mistakes
- Unnecessary force = NO-GO regardless of search success
- Walking between detainee and guard
- Not announcing weapons found loudly
- Skipping crotch area search (prime hiding location)
- Not using bending and crushing technique on seams
Task Basis: 191-COM-0009
- Humane treatment is graded — unnecessary force = NO-GO.
- Same-gender searches when possible. Mixed-gender: with witness, respectful manner.
- Never walk between detainee and guard.
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
0/3 GO- 1
Position the detainee
- Direct detainee to stand, face you, raise arms, lock elbows, spread fingers.
- Check hands visually for weapons/contraband.
- Order to turn around, drop to knees.
- Search back of hands.
- Direct to lie on stomach, arms out, palms up, forehead on ground, legs spread.
- Ensure guard is at oblique angle, opposite side being searched.
- 2
Restrain the detainee
- Approach from 45-degree angle, opposite guard.
- Squat, place knee on detainee's lower back (control, not injury).
- Direct nearer arm behind back, palm up. Maintain control.
- Grasp other hand in handshake hold, apply disposable restraints, tighten.
-
3
Search the detainee (prone frisk) CRITICAL
- Bending and crushing technique throughout. Bend seams for razor blades. Grasp/squeeze loose clothing.
- ANNOUNCE any weapon found loudly. Alert guard.
- Search: small of back, headgear, head/hair, fingers to shoulders, collar/neck area.
- Back from shoulder to waist. Pull onto side to search front.
- Waist to knee including crotch area. Legs and feet. Check footwear.
- Move to unsearched side (around head, never between detainee and guard).
- Repeat search on other side. Assist detainee to stand.
From the Ranger Handbook (TC 3-21.76)
Supplementary context — not tested directly, but builds deeper understanding.
The 5-S Rule (Ch. 2, para 2-18): Treatment of prisoners captured during a patrol conforms to the Geneva Conventions and follows the 5-S rule. The 5 Ss stand for:
- Search
- Silence
- Segregate
- Safeguard
- Speed to rear
Tactical context: EPW search teams are designated during ambush and raid operations. Once the kill zone is clear, EPWs are collected, secured, and moved out of the kill zone before they are searched. Coordinate for an EPW exchange point to link up with higher HQ, and treat EPWs in accordance with the 5-S rule (Ch. 7, para 7-42p). Detainees are searched in a "dirty" pit (first search, for weapons) and then a "clean" pit (detailed search, top to bottom, front to back, left to right) (Appendix A).
Source: TC 3-21.76, Chapter 2, Chapter 7 & Appendix A, 19 September 2025