A strip search is a practice of searching a person  for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, and not found by performing a frisk search, by requiring the person to remove some or all of his or her clothing. The search may involve an official performing an Intimate Person Search and inspecting their personal effects and body cavities (mouth, vagina, anus etc.). A strip search is more intrusive than a frisk and requires legal authority. Regulations covering strip searches vary considerably, and may be mandatory in some situations or discretionary in others.