Opinion
MOSK, J.
While on patrol at midday in July 1979, a police officer saw defendant in a parking lot making stiff, “robot-like” movements. From his training and experience the officer formed the opinion that defendant was under the influence of phencyclidine (PCP). He detained defendant and tested him for certain distinctive eye movements that are seen in persons under the influence of PCP. When the test proved positive, the officer arrested defendant, took from him a closed tote bag he had been carrying, and put him in handcuffs; he may also have placed defendant in the patrol car at that time.
The officer then opened and searched the tote bag; he subsequently testified that he did so “for inventory purposes.” Inside the bag he found a [716]*716single cigarette containing PCP. After this discovery, defendant was transported to the police station, booked, and charged with the crime of possession of PCP. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11377, subd. (a).)
At the preliminary hearing the foregoing evidence was introduced and defendant stipulated that the officer had probable cause to arrest him for being under the influence of a narcotic. (Pen. Code, § 647, subd. (f).)1 He zmoved, however, to suppress the evidence of the cigarette on the ground that the warrantless search of his tote bag was unlawful. (§ 1538.5, subd. (f).) He contended that the intrusion could not be justified as an incident to the narcotics arrest because at the time of the search the bag was no longer under his immediate control: it had been taken away from him and he was in handcuffs. The prosecution sought to justify the intrusion on a different theory, contending that it should be upheld as an “accelerated booking search.” To support that theory with facts, the prosecution reopened its case over defendant’s objection and recalled the arresting officer to the stand. He testified that it was his department’s practice to book and “strip-search” all persons arrested on a charge of being under the influence of narcotics, and that before he looked inside defendant’s bag he intended to book him on such a charge. On this testimony the magistrate found that defendant would in fact have been subjected to the booking and booking-search process, and therefore ruled that the search of the bag at the scene of the arrest was justified as an “accelerated booking search.” The motion to suppress was denied, and defendant was held to answer.
In superior court defendant filed a compound motion to suppress the evidence (§ 1538.5, subd. (i)) and to “dismiss” the information pursuant to section 995 “on the ground that evidence necessary to support the Information was erroneously admitted over proper defense objection at the preliminary examination.” No evidence was introduced at the hearing, which was devoted to arguing whether the case was controlled by People v. Pace (1979) 92 Cal.App.3d 199 [154 Cal.Rptr. 811], or by three decisions relied on by the People involving booking searches. The court took the matter under submission, and thereafter issued a memorandum of decision ruling that “the motion” was granted “for the reasons stated in People v. Pace. ” The People took this appeal.
I
We begin by addressing a procedural problem that has troubled our courts and practitioners since the enactment of the statutory motion to suppress (§ 1538.5) in 1967. Prior to that date a defendant had two methods of chal[717]*717lenging before trial the admissibility of evidence obtained by a warrantless search and seizure: i.e., a nonstatutory motion to suppress (People v. Gershenhorn (1964) 225 Cal.App.2d 122, 124 [37 Cal.Rptr. 176]) and a statutory motion to set aside the accusatory pleading (§ 995) on the ground that it rested entirely on evidence obtained by an illegal search and seizure (Badillo v. Superior Court (1956) 46 Cal.2d 269, 271 [294 P.2d 23]). (See generally, Note, Methods of Challenging Searches and Seizures in California (1966) 54 Cal.L.Rev. 1070, 1071-1077; Cal. Criminal Law Practice (Cont.Ed.Bar 1964) pp. 190-196.) There were a number of significant differences between the two procedures, however, and one of those differences was in the opportunity for immediate review. Each party was accorded an immediate review of a ruling on a motion to set aside an accusatory pleading: the People could take a direct appeal (former § 1238, subd. 1; now § 1238, subd. (a)(1)), and the defendant could petition for a writ of prohibition (§ 999a). But there was no such review of a ruling on a motion to suppress: that ruling would support neither an appeal (People v. Gershenhorn, supra, 225 Cal.App.2d 122) nor a petition for writ (People v. Justice Court (1960) 185 Cal.App.2d 256 [8 Cal.Rptr. 176]). This omission tended to work a greater hardship on the People than on the defendant, as the latter had the right to obtain appellate review of the ruling after any ensuing conviction.
Section 1538.5 was enacted in part to remedy the omission. (See 22 Assem. Interim Com. Rep. (1965-1967) No. 12, Crim. Procedure, Search & Seizure, pp. 15-16.) It now provides multiple opportunities for immediate review by both parties of rulings on motions to suppress. In misdemeanor cases, either the People or the defendant can appeal to the superior court. (§ 1538.5, subd. (j).) In felony cases, the People can petition for writ if the prosecution has not been dismissed on motion of the superior court pursuant to section 13852 (§ 1538.5, subd. (o)), and can appeal if it has (§ 1238, subd. (a)(7)); the defendant can petition for writ (§ 1538.5, subd. (i)). (See generally Cal. Search and Seizure Practice (Cont.Ed.Bar 2d ed. 1977) pp. 59-88.)
The difficulty we address here stems from the fact that when the Legislature codified, expanded, and regulated the motion to suppress evidence on the ground of unreasonable search and seizure in the elaborate provisions of section 1538.5, it left intact the motion to set aside the accusatory pleading on the same ground under section 995. That this was not an oversight is shown by section 1538.5 itself, which declares that “Nothing in this [718]*718section shall be construed as altering ... the procedure and law relating to a motion made pursuant to Section . . . 995” (id., subd. (n)), and expressly includes section 995 in a list of “the sole and exclusive remedies prior to conviction to test the unreasonableness of a search or seizure” (id., subd. (m)). The oversight, rather, appears in the failure of the Legislature to coordinate the two procedures in light of the significant differences remaining between them.
The principal differences lie in the functions of the courts when ruling on these motions, and in the scope of appellate review. Section 1538.5, of course, repeatedly refers to superior court proceedings on a motion to suppress as a hearing “de novo.” (Id., subds. (i) and (j).) Accordingly, it is settled that in ruling on a motion under section 1538.5 the superior court sits as a finder of fact with the power to judge credibility, resolve conflicts, weigh evidence, and draw inferences, and hence that on review of its ruling by appeal or writ all presumptions are drawn in favor of the factual determinations of the superior court and the appellate court must uphold the superior court’s express or implied findings if they are supported by substantial evidence. (People v. Lawler (1973) 9 Cal.3d 156, 160 [107 Cal.Rptr. 13, 507 P.2d 21].) By contrast, in proceedings under section 995 it is the magistrate who is the finder of fact; the superior court has none of the foregoing powers, and sits merely as a reviewing court; it must draw every legitimate inference in favor of the information, and cannot substitute its judgment as to the credibility or weight of the evidence for that of the magistrate. (People v. Hall (1971) 3 Cal.3d 992, 996 [92 Cal.Rptr. 304, 479 P.2d 664], and cases cited.) On review by appeal or writ, moreover, the appellate court in effect disregards the ruling of the superior court and directly reviews the determination of the magistrate holding the defendant to answer. (People v. Maltz (1971) 14 Cal.App.3d 381, 389 [92 Cal.Rptr. 216]; see generally People v. Sanchez (1972) 24 Cal.App.3d 664, 690, fn. 15 [101 Cal.Rptr. 193].)
These differences cause no mischief when the defendant makes only one of the two motions at a time: following the foregoing rules, both the superior court and the appellate court know what to do. (See, e.g., People v. Norman (1975) 14 Cal.3d 929, 931, 939 [123 Cal.Rptr. 109, 538 P.2d 237] [§ 1538.5 motion at preliminary examination; § 995 motion after filing of information; People’s appeal from order setting aside information].) The problems arise when, as here, the defendant makes a compound motion invoking both statutes at once. If, as often occurs, that motion is heard by stipulation in whole or in part on the transcript of the preliminary examination, the superior court may be called on to perform the mental gymnastics of viewing one and the same testimony both as a trier of fact under section 1538.5 and as a reviewing court under section 995. Because of the [719]*719court’s sharply different powers in exercising these two functions, it may be compelled to rule the identical search good under one branch of the motion and bad under the other. (See, e.g., People v. Cagle (1971) 21 Cal.App.3d 57, 60 [98 Cal.Rptr. 348] [motion to set aside information denied; simultaneous motion to suppress evidence granted].) The court may seek to avoid this anomaly by treating the defendant’s compound effort as two successive motions: it may, for example, suppress the evidence under section 1538.5 because it was obtained by illegal search and seizure, and then conclude that when such evidence is disregarded there is no probable cause to support the commitment within the meaning of section 995. But this technique could be proper only if the superior court had also concluded, sitting as a reviewing court under section 995, that the magistrate erred in ruling that the evidence was not illegally obtained. (Cf. People v. Superior Court (Kusano) (1969) 276 Cal.App.2d 581, 586, fn. 4 [81 Cal.Rptr. 42] (dictum).) Further, this device may cause the court new problems, as it runs counter to an appellate opinion declaring that when the superior court suppresses evidence under section 1538.5 it lacks jurisdiction to set aside the information under section 995 immediately thereafter. (People v. Superior Court (MacLachlin) (1969) 271 Cal.App.2d 338, 346-348 [76 Cal.Rptr. 712].)
Review of an order ruling on such a compound motion presents other complications. As noted above, insofar as the order is made under section 1538.5 the appellate court reviews the ruling of the superior court, but insofar as it is made under section 995 the appellate court must disregard that ruling and review instead the action of the magistrate. This feat will be demanding enough when the superior court clearly explains for the record how it is deciding each branch of the motion. But in many cases, as here, neither the parties nor the superior court exhibit any awareness of the differences between the two procedures, and the court merely announces that it grants “the motion.” Such a ruling leaves the appellate court to speculate on which standard to apply to what evidence, and causes the “consternation that results from the making of simultaneous, undifferentiated orders suppressing evidence and setting aside an information” (People v. Minervini (1971) 20 Cal.App.3d 832, 836 [98 Cal.Rptr. 107]).
The parties also face obstacles in obtaining review of such an order. If the order denies the motion the defendant may seek immediate relief by writ, but for a full review of the ruling he will be compelled to file either two separate writ petitions or a compound petition for two writs—one to review the order insofar as it denies the section 995 portion of the motion (§ 999a) and another to review it insofar as it denies the section 1538.5 [720]*720portion (§ 1538.5, subd. (i))3—and the appellate court will be potentially burdened with duplicate considerations of the same issue.
If the order grants the motion, the problems are still more complex. As pointed out earlier, insofar as the order grants the section 995 portion of the motion the People’s remedy is by appeal from the order setting aside the information (§ 1238, subd. (a)(1)); but insofar as the order grants the section 1538.5 portion of the motion their remedy is by petition for writ (§ 1538.5, subd. (o)), unless the court dismisses the prosecution on its own motion pursuant to section 1385 before the writ is sought, in which event their sole remedy is by appeal from that dismissal (id., subd. (j); § 1238, subd. (a)(7)). Neither combination of these remedies, however, is free of serious theoretical objections. Thus if the superior court dismisses the entire prosecution under section 1385, it is difficult to see how the court can simultaneously set aside the information in the same case under section 995. Surely the greater includes the lesser; and even if the remedies were of equal scope, a case cannot be dismissed twice. Conversely, it is no less difficult to see how an application for a writ can be entertained in a case in which the prosecution has been aborted by an order setting aside the information. In that event the appellate court’s alternate writ—commanding the superior court to grant the relief requested or show cause why not—will demand a theoretical impossibility of the superior court, which will have terminated the prosecution and lost jurisdiction pending the People’s appeal from its order under section 995.4
For these and other reasons, the appellate courts have often experienced difficulty in dealing with cases in which the People simultaneously petition for a writ under section 1538.5 and file an appeal from the section 995 portion of the same ruling. The situation is not much better when, as here, the People forego their statutory right to seek a writ and simply take an appeal. In that event a number of appellate courts have attempted to justify a full review of the ruling by the device of treating the appeal as being taken simultaneously from (1) an order setting aside the information under section [721]*721995 and (2) an order dismissing the prosecution under section 1385 (People v. Minervini (1971) supra, 20 Cal.App.3d 832, 836; People v. Gephart (1979) supra, 93 Cal.App.3d 989, 996, fn. 3 (dictum)), or by treating an appeal from the former as if it were an appeal from the latter (People v. Amaya (1979) 93 Cal.App.3d 424, 427, fn. 1 [155 Cal.Rptr. 783]). But the fiction of “treating” the appeal as having stemmed from a nonexistent dismissal under section 1385 does violence to the express requirement of the latter statute that “The reasons of the dismissal must be set forth in an order entered upon the minutes.” Compliance with that requirement is mandatory. (People v. Hunt (1977) 19 Cal.3d 888, 897 [140 Cal.Rptr. 651, 568 P.2d 376].) “If the reasons are not set forth in the minutes, the order dismissing may not be considered [or ‘treated as’] a dismissal under section 1385.” (People v. Superior Court (Howard) (1968) 69 Cal.2d 491, 503, fn. 7 [72 Cal.Rptr. 330, 446 P.2d 138].)
In addition, in all cases in which the court acts at the instance of the defendant or the prosecutor, this device also does violence to the statute granting the People a limited right of appeal from such a dismissal. Although under section 1385 a court may ordinarily dismiss either on its own motion or on motion of the prosecutor (fn. 2, ante), subdivision (a)(7) of section 1238 allows an appeal by the latter only when the dismissal was “made upon motion of the court.” Compliance with this limitation is also mandatory: an appeal by the People from a dismissal under section 1385 based on an order suppressing evidence cannot be maintained when the dismissal was granted on motion of the prosecutor, and hence “care should be taken in each instance to specify in the minute order whether the dismissal is on the court’s motion or on application of the prosecuting attorney.” (People v. Caserta (1971) 14 Cal.App.3d 484, 486-488 [92 Cal.Rptr. 382].)
Finally, the Courts of Appeal have sought to forestall the foregoing problems by urging superior courts not to act on these compound motions in the first place. Instead, the courts have been advised to rule only on the section 1538.5 portion of the motion, and if they grant that portion, to postpone ruling on the section 995 portion until after the People have exhausted or waived their right to writ review of the suppression order. (People v. Minervini, supra, at p. 836 of 20 Cal.App.3d.) If a court does wish to dismiss the prosecution on its own motion contemporaneously with the suppression order, it is told to take that action under section 1385 rather than section 995, thus permitting the People an orderly review by appeal. (Ibid.)
Although this technique represents an advance over a simultaneous ruling on the compound motion, it too is not without apparent flaws. It in effect denies the defendant his right, inferrable from subdivisions (m) and (n) of [722]*722section 1538.5, to a prompt determination of the section 995 motion he has joined with his motion to suppress. His purpose in joining that motion is to reap full benefit from his motion to suppress, if it is successful, in the usual case in which insufficient evidence remains to put him to trial. If he does not add a motion under section 995 the prosecution will continue to hang over him while the People pursue their statutory remedy of review by writ.5 Nor can he simply move to dismiss under section 1385 when the suppression order is granted, because under present legislation that motion cannot be made by a defendant in any circumstances.6 It is to avoid these obstacles that the defendant presents his section 995 motion at the same time as his motion to suppress. The Minervini proposal frustrates that purpose.
More than a decade ago, an appellate court pointed out “the crying need for legislative reform” of the overlapping statutory procedures for pretrial challenge of a search and seizure. (People v. Sanchez (1972) supra, 24 Cal.App.3d 664, 690, fn. 15.) For all the reasons stated above, we support the call for such reform. Because legislative reconsideration has not been forthcoming, this often litigated area of our criminal law remains unsatisfactory both in principle and in practice.
In the meantime, some improvements may be adopted on the basis of existing statutes and the common law. Thus we urge that when a superior court has granted the section 1538.5 portion of a compound motion, it should first consider whether to exercise its power to dismiss the prosecution on its own motion pursuant to section 1385.7 This is the preferred remedy, as it gives the defendant immediate relief and the People immediate review. (§ 1238, subd. (a)(7).)
If the court determines not to so dismiss, it should at least consider deferring ruling on the section 995 portion of the motion until the People have exhausted or waived their right to writ review of the suppression order. In [723]*723appropriate cases the disadvantages to the defendant of the Minervini proposal may be reduced by pretrial release procedures. (See § 1538.5, subd. (k).)
If the court determines not to so defer its ruling it may decide the section 995 portion of the motion simultaneously with the suppression portion, provided it scrupulously distinguishes between its different functions on each motion. We disagree with the conclusion of People v. Superior Court (MacLachlin) (1969) supra, 271 Cal.App.2d 338, 346-348, that the stay language of subdivision (Z) of section 1538.5 impliedly deprives the court of jurisdiction to rule on the section 995 portion of the motion immediately upon granting the suppression motion. The language in question is plain and unambiguous: it provides simply that when a suppression motion is granted “the trial of a criminal case shall be stayed” pending various statutory review procedures. (Italics added.) It is improper to rewrite such plain language to include a pretrial motion to set aside the information. “When statutory language is thus clear and unambiguous there is no need for construction, and courts should not indulge in it.” (Solberg v. Superior Court (1977) 19 Cal.3d 182, 198 [137 Cal.Rptr. 460, 561 P.2d 1148].) To the extent it so construes section 1538.5, Mac Lachlin is disapproved.
The same rule, however, does not bar us from construing a different—and much less clear—portion of the statute that appears to offer a solution to the theoretical objections discussed earlier. Subdivision (j) of section 1538.5 provides in relevant part that if the suppression motion is granted “the people may seek appellate review as provided in subdivision (o) [i.e., by petition for writ], unless the court prior to the time such review is sought has dismissed the case pursuant to Section 1385.” Applying the familiar maxim expressio unius est exclusio alterius (Southern Cal. Gas Co. v. Public Utilities Com. (1979) 24 Cal.3d 653, 659 [156 Cal.Rptr. 733, 596 P.2d 1149]; People v. Nichols (1970) 3 Cal.3d 150, 161 [89 Cal.Rptr. 721, 474 P.2d 673]), we may fairly infer that when the court has not dismissed the case pursuant to section 1385 the People may seek writ review even though the prosecution has been terminated for another reason, i.e., because the information has been set aside under section 995.
Such a writ proceeding will provide the People with appellate review of the section 1538.5 portion of the ruling. But the section 995 portion must be reviewable at the same time, as a peremptory writ cannot be executed so long as the information remains set aside. The order setting aside the information, of course, is appealable by the People. (§ 1238, subd. (a)(1).) Because the People have that right—and no question of double jeopardy is involved—no bar appears to allowing the People instead to seek review of [724]*724the same order by means of a writ. (Compare People v. Superior Court (Howard) (1968) supra, 69 Cal.2d 491 [People held not entitled to writ review of order dismissing prosecution under § 1385 because People had no right to appeal from that order and jeopardy had attached].) The need for coordinated and concurrent review and disposition of both portions of the court’s ruling on the compound motion renders a separate appeal from only the section 995 portion an inadequate remedy at law, so that mandate or prohibition will lie to review that portion as well. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1086, 1103.)
We conclude that when a superior court simultaneously grants both the section 1538.5 and the section 995 portions of a compound motion challenging the legality of the same search and seizure, the People may seek immediate review of both rulings by means of a single petition for writ of mandate or prohibition.
In the case at bar, however, a simpler remedy is available because of the state of the record and the limited issue it presents. As noted at the outset, no testimony whatever was offered at the superior court hearing, nor did the parties introduce in lieu thereof the evidence taken at the preliminary examination. The court apparently accepted the facts as found by the magistrate; the entire hearing was dedicated to debating questions of precedent; and the ruling was based exclusively on the court’s interpretation of the relevant law. In these circumstances we deem that the court in effect ruled only on the section 995 portion of defendant’s compound motion (see People v. Superior Court (Kusano) (1969) supra, 276 Cal.App.2d 581, 585), holding the challenged evidence inadmissible as a matter of law and setting aside the information because the remaining evidence was legally insufficient to amount to probable cause. For the same reason we deem that the People’s appeal from “the order granting defendant’s motion herein and dismissing the instant cause” constitutes simply an appeal pursuant to section 1238, subdivision (a)(1), from an order setting aside the information.
II
As noted at the outset, the arresting officer testified he searched defendant’s tote bag “for inventory purposes.” The only justification for that search presented by the prosecution at the preliminary hearing was that the intrusion constituted a so-called “accelerated booking search.” The magistrate accepted this justification and made it the ground of his ruling denying the motion to suppress. Finally, the sole contention raised in the Attorney General’s brief on appeal is likewise that the search of the bag was justifiable as an “accelerated booking search.” We therefore limit our [725]*725consideration to that issue. (Lorenzana v. Superior Court (1973) 9 Cal.3d 626, 640-641 [108 Cal.Rptr. 585, 511 P.2d 33], and cases cited.)
It is axiomatic, of course, that warrantless searches are per se unreasonable under the California and federal Constitutions with only a few carefully circumscribed exceptions, and that the People have the burden of proving that any search without a warrant comes within one of those exceptions. (People v. Dalton (1979) 24 Cal.3d 850, 855 [157 Cal.Rptr. 497, 598 P.2d 467], and cases cited.) A “booking search” has been recognized as such an exception. (People v. Ross (1967) 67 Cal.2d 64, 70 [60 Cal.Rptr. 254, 429 P.2d 606], revd. on other grounds sub nom. Ross v. California (1968) 391 U.S. 470 [20 L.Ed.2d 750, 88 S.Ct. 1850]; see generally 2 LaFave, Search and Seizure (1978) § 5.3 (a).) The question at hand is whether another exception should be recognized for an “accelerated booking search.”
The Attorney General relies primarily on People v. Bullwinkle (1980) 105 Cal.App.3d 82, 86-90 [164 Cal.Rptr. 163].8 In Bullwinkle a Court of Appeal upheld a warrantless search of an arrestee’s purse conducted prior to booking. The court stressed that because the suspect had been arrested on a felony warrant, she would inevitably have been jailed in any event, and her purse would have been searched at that time as part of the booking process. The court then reasoned that “Where it is shown that a suspect would have been jailed and thus subject to a booking search, the fact that a thorough search of the booking type occurs prior to the actual booking process does not render the search illegal, since no additional or greater intrusion on the privacy of the suspect is involved.” (Id. at p. 87.) The court further stated that such a search may be upheld on appeal as an “accelerated booking search” even when the arresting officer expressly concedes in his testimony that he was not conducting a booking search at the time of the intrusion; the court reiterated, “The theory is that the privacy of the prisoner and her effects would have been invaded anyway, and that therefore no greater intrusion on that privacy occurs when the search is conducted other than during the booking process.” (Id. at p. 90.)
After careful consideration we cannot accept this theory as justification for a warrantless search. To begin with, we are unpersuaded by the claim that an “accelerated booking search” causes “no additional or greater intrusion” into the privacy of an arrestee than a jailhouse search at the time of the booking process. The latter can be very thorough indeed; for exam-[726]*726pie, in the case at bar the arresting officer testified it was his department’s practice to “strip-search” all persons booked for being under the influence of a narcotic. When as often occurs the arrest takes place on the street or in some other public setting, it is plainly wrong to say that “a thorough search of the booking type” performed at that location is not a greater invasion of personal privacy than the same search held in the relatively sequestered milieu of the property room of a police station. The United States Supreme Court has explained how great an intrusion is an ordinary “patdown” on the street: “it is simply fantastic to urge that such a procedure performed in public by a policeman while a citizen stands helpless, perhaps facing a wall with his hands raised, is a ‘petty indignity.’ It is a serious intrusion upon the sanctity of the person, which may inflict great indignity and arouse strong resentment, and it is not to be undertaken lightly.” (Fns. omitted.) (Terry v. Ohio (1968) 392 U.S. 1, 16-17 [20 L.Ed.2d 889, 903, 88 S.Ct. 1868].) If this is true of the most limited and superficial frisk known to the law, it is a fortiori true of the general full-body search permitted at booking. Yet if the “accelerated booking search” exception were adopted, all such searches could be conducted whenever and wherever the arrest happens to take place.
Next, the justifications for a true booking search are inapplicable to a search in the field at the time of arrest. Although those justifications have been variously stated in our decisions (see, e.g., People v. Maher (1976) 17 Cal.3d 196, 200-201 [130 Cal.Rptr. 508, 550 P.2d 1044], and cases cited) they properly fall into two broad categories—inventory and jail safety. First, in California several statutes impose on jail officials the duty to take charge of, give receipts for, keep safely, and account for the personal property of all persons delivered into their custody. (§§ 1412, 4003; Gov. Code, § 26640.) Each of these purposes is served by a search of the prisoner at the time he is booked. Secondly, by virtue of their office jailers have the general responsibility to prevent escapes, safeguard both staff and inmates, and protect jail property; to discharge that responsibility they have the corresponding right to prevent the introduction into jail of anything that could be used to attempt an escape or harm persons or property, such as weapons or contraband. Again, a booking search promotes these several goals.
A search at the time and place of the arrest, however, cannot be justified as necessary or even appropriate to serve any of the foregoing purposes. It is evident that the need to inventory a prisoner’s property is satisfied poorly, if at all, by allowing the arresting officers to rifle through his possessions at the scene of the crime, where they are unlikely to have the time or incentive to meticulously catalog everything they find, or the means of furnishing him with formal receipts, or facilities such as property bags and storage lockers for safeguarding each of his effects. There will be ample [727]*727opportunity for the proper officials to discharge these duties when the arresting officers deliver the prisoner into their custody.
Nor is there any need for the arresting officers to concern themselves about searching the suspect in order to discover items such as weapons or contraband that should be kept out of jail, for the obvious reason that he is not about to be put in jail; he is simply being taken into their temporary custody for transportation to the police station or place of eventual incarceration. Existing law, moreover, fully permits the officers to protect themselves from any danger while the defendant is in their custody. As an incident to the arrest they may conduct a limited search “(1) for instrumentalities used to commit the crime, the fruits of that crime, and other evidence thereof which will aid in the apprehension or conviction of the criminal; (2) for articles the possession of which is itself unlawful, such as contraband or goods known to be stolen; and (3) for weapons which can be used to assault the arresting officer or to effect an escape.” (People v. Superior Court (Kiefer) (1970) 3 Cal.3d 807, 812-813 [91 Cal.Rptr. 729, 478 P.2d 449, 45 A.L.R.3d 559].) Indeed, even when the charge will be resolved by a mere citation a patdown search for weapons is permissible if the officers are required to travel in proximity with the arrestee. (People v. Brisendine (1975) 13 Cal.3d 528, 537 [119 Cal.Rptr. 315, 531 P.2d 1099].)
In short, just as the legitimate purposes of the booking search exception do not justify a belated search conducted after the booking process has ended (People v. Smith (1980) 103 Cal.App.3d 840, 845 [163 Cal.Rptr. 322]), so also they do not justify a premature search performed before that process has begun.
Finally, we cannot blind ourselves to the practical dangers inherent in the “accelerated booking search” theory. Both of the above-mentioned intrusions permissible at the time of a lawful arrest—a search incident to the arrest and a patdown in the event of transportation—are restricted in their scope and tailored to their particular justifications. By contrast, as noted above an “accelerated booking search” would have no such restrictions.9 If such an exception were recognized, police officers would have a license to conduct an immediate “thorough search of the booking type” of the person and effects of any individual they arrest without a warrant for a minor but bookable offense, in the hope of discovering evidence of a more serious crime; if such evidence were found, the suspect would then be [728]*728booked instead on the latter charge and the intrusion would be rationalized after the fact as an “accelerated booking search.” A comparison between the initial arrest and the ultimate charge in the case at bar illustrates the point. As recently said in a related context, “Since this significant risk of intrusion is not counterbalanced by an equivalent police necessity it cannot be tolerated.” (People v. Mosqueda (1982) 128 Cal.App.3d 918, 924 [180 Cal.Rptr. 591].)
For all the foregoing reasons we hold that the so-called “accelerated booking search” is not a permissible exception to the warrant requirement of article I, section 13, of the California Constitution. We therefore disapprove People v. Bullwinkle (1980) supra, 105 Cal.App.3d 82, 86-90, and a dictum in People v. Longwill (1975) 14 Cal.3d 943, 948 [123 Cal.Rptr. 297, 538 P.2d 753].10
We conclude that the magistrate erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress the cigarette that he is charged with possessing. Because there is no other competent evidence to hold him to answer, the superior court correctly ruled that defendant was committed without probable cause.
The order appealed from is affirmed.
Bird, C. J., Broussard, J., and Reynoso, J., concurred.