Stripped of clothing

Being stripped usually refers to the forced removal of shoes, clothing, jewellery, and personal effects, usually for the purposes of ensuring that persons are free of contraband or contamination.

Reasons for stripping people of their clothing and personal effects

Reasons for stripping include the following:

• Helping people who might have been contaminated by a nuclear, biological, or chemical agent;
• Preventing people from infecting others, or from spreading contamination;
• Searching people for weapons or other contraband;
• Providing safety or security.

Stripping without washing still provides 80 to 95% of the necessary decontamination

People are usually stripped at the scene of a suspected bioterror attack, such as when a mysterious powder is found. Stripping is the first step in decontamination, which consists of the 3 step process of strip, wash, and cover (supply with replacement clothes).

In the event that washing facilities are not available, 80 to 95% of most contamination can be removed by the removal of a persons's clothing. Thus simply stripping those found at an incident scene, and supplying them with fresh clothing, can improve the chances of their survival, as well as reduce the spread of contamination.

Stripping for safety and security

Additionally, people are often stripped to make sure that they are not carrying weapons or other contraband.

Typically at an incident scene, the area is cordoned off to ensure that nobody leaves the crime scene without at least being stripped, and preferably also being decontaminated (if resources allow).

In certain cases, such as at an illegal meth lab, it is very likely the perpetrators are among those exposed to chemical agents. Therefore stripping everyone at the crime scene has the added advantage of helping in the evidence gathering process, since each person's shoes, clothing, jewellery, and personal effects are bagged separately together with their name and photograph (in case the perpetrators lie about their names).

During an emergency, when large numbers of people report to a hospital, they are often stripped to ensure that they don't bring contraband or contamination into the facility. A single infected patient could shut down an entire hospital.

Mass stripping

Mass stripping is the stripping of large numbers of people. This is commonly done during decontamination (e.g. for mass decontamination), or for searching everyone leaving an area, such as when there is a deliberate release of an organism in a biosafety lab:

Illegal meth labs are often best dealt with by striping everyone present at the crime scene, for their own safety, as well as for the collection of evidence.

When safety, especially world safety (disease outbreak, quarantine) is involved, it is often best to strip everyone at an incident scene, rather than only certain suspicious persons, otherwise first responders may be accused of targeting or racial profiling.

Alternatively, if the situation is not one of life and death for other people not at the scene, voluntary stripping (voluntary decontamination) is sometimes provided. In this case, decontamination tents, or decon trailers are offered where people can shed their potentially contaminated clothes and have them bagged by emergency responders for later return if and when a suspected attack turns out to be a hoax.