Patent Application
20070194073
The invention relates to a convenient device for securing prisoner personal property and evidence such as contraband while a criminal suspect is being searched during an arrest.
When a law enforcement officer makes an arrest and handcuffs a criminal suspect behind his or her back, the officer must empty the suspect's pockets before putting him in the back of the police car. This is a mandatory procedure in all jurisdictions.
What actually happens is that the officer will search the suspect's pockets and put the contents, contraband and/or other property, on the hood of the patrol car. If there is any wind, or if the items are small, or if there are numerous items, they will often end up on the ground. In this case, the officer has to bend over near the suspect's feet to retrieve any fallen objects. This in itself creates a safety issue for the officer. The officer cannot let go of the prisoner at any time, especially if he is combative or an escape risk.
If the officer has found contraband and loses it, he is in trouble with the force for having lost the evidence. If for example, the officer places property retrieved from pockets and any contraband evidence on the patrol vehicle hood, and the prisoner decides to be combative, in all probability, the evidence and property will be scattered around the surrounding ground area. Any glass item, like a crack cocaine pipe, will more than likely break. If the prisoner has money, it flies away. It is obvious that the circumstances that can lead to lost property and evidence is enumerable and the consequences can be extremely detrimental to the chances of a successful prosecution against the prisoner.
What is needed is a device that is convenient to use by the police officer and that can be used to secure property and evidence while allowing the officer to maintain control of the prisoner.
The present invention allows the officer to hold the prisoner with one hand and with the other hand, he can open an outer pouch (also referred to herein as outer bag or container) attached to a convenient location such as a belt. He can then pull a tab connected to an inner foldable pouch to deploy the inner pouch or bag. This foldable bag may also be folded so as to allow its expansion when deployed, that is, when deployed, it is wider than the outer container and significantly deeper than the outer container. With this same hand, he can then search the pockets of the prisoner and place the contents directly into the inner bag. When the pockets are empty, he can secure the inner pouch, typically by pulling on a draw string.
If the prisoner starts to be combative, the property and evidence is safe and secured.
The officer can then place the prisoner in the back of the patrol car, go to the driver's seat, and then open the evidence bag to itemize its contents.
With the invention, there is no loss of property or evidence and no unnecessary risks to the police officer. It is practical and it saves time.
When the process is completed, the foldable inner bag is simply folded and re-inserted into the outer bag with the pull tab at the top of the interior of the outer bag. The outer bag is then re-secured by closing the flap using a snap type of fastener, a clip type of fastener or other securement/fastening means known in the art, such as a hook and loop fastener.
In the accompanying drawings:
Referring now to the drawings,
The property and evidence bag 10 comprises an outer container 12 having an opening at its top to an interior chamber 30. The outer container 12 includes means 24 on its back side for securement to an officer wearing the property and evidence bag 10. This can be in the form of a belt loop as depicted by example only, in the drawings. For example, in lieu of attaching to a belt, the loop could be rotated so that the evidence bag 10 instead attaches to a should strap or harness. Other securement means known in the art could be hook and loop fasteners or snap buttons, or simply fastening by sewing, for example, the outer container 12 to a portion of the uniform or gear worn by the police officer. The belt loop shown in the drawings is merely a depiction, by example, of a preferred method of attachment to the police officer.
The outer container 12 has an extended flap securement portion 14 that extends from its back side and is of sufficient length and width to cover the opening at the top of the interior chamber 30 and secure to a front side of the outer container 12. The flap portion 14 includes means 16 for securing the extended flap securement portion to the front side of the outer container 12. This can be in the form of snap buttons such as those depicted by example only. Of course, other methods known in the art may be used for this purpose, such as, hook and loop fasteners, swivel clips such as those used on cuff links, etc. The snap buttons are preferred to allow for quick opening of the container 12 and for maintaining the cleanliness of the container 12.
The invention 10 has a foldable interior bag 20 with an opening at its top portion for access to an interior property and evidence collection chamber 32 formed by the foldable interior bag 20 when in its deployed position. A portion of the foldable interior bag 20 near its opening is attached to the outer container 12 near the top of its interior chamber 30 as depicted by attachment location 22. This can be done by sewing, heat welding or gluing the bag 20 to the back side interior of bag 12 near the base of flap 14 as shown in the drawings by example, or by attachment to the front side interior of bag 12 (not shown) using similar methods.
The foldable interior bag 20 further includes means 18 for manually deploying the foldable interior bag 20 from the outer container12. The preferred means 18 for manually deploying the foldable interior bag 20 from the outer container 12 is a pull tab attached approximate the bottom of the foldable interior bag 20. Typically, the bag 20 is folded and inserted in the container 12 so that when the flap 14 is opened, the pull tab is accessible at the top of the packed inner bag 20 and can be readily grabbed and pulled to deploy the inner bag 20. Although a pull tab is depicted in the drawings, the pull tab is only an example of such a device to enable the deploying of the inner bag 20. A string could be used as well, for example. The inner bag 20 includes means 34 for securing the opening of the foldable interior bag 20 after property and evidence has been placed therein.
As shown in the deployed position of
The outer container 12 can be made from a variety of materials that can blend in and be part of the uniform worn by the police office. It can be made from material that includes fabric material, plastic or polymeric-based material, metal material, vinyl material, nylon material, leather material or any combination of these.
The foldable interior bag 20 can be made from any flexible and foldable material that can be compactly folded and inserted into the outer bag 12. Such materials include vinyl material, nylon material, fabric material, polymer-based fabric material, or any combination thereof.
Either the outer container 12 of the inner bag 20 can optionally be made from a waterproof material or treated to be waterproof by ways known in the art.
The preferred means for securing the opening of the foldable interior bag after property and evidence has been placed therein is a draw-string 34. The depicted preferred embodiment includes a slidable locking/tightening device, which is well known in the art to be associated with such closure draw strings. The latter serves as means for locking the draw-string in its drawn-tight position.
It should be understood that the preceding is merely a detailed description of one or more embodiments of this invention and that numerous changes to the disclosed embodiments can be made in accordance with the disclosure herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The preceding description, therefore, is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined only by the appended claims and their equivalents.
