Chapter 4Stop and Frisk

Introduction Terry v. Ohio reasonable suspicion field interrogations are essential for

investigating and detecting street crimes distinguished from custodial arrests purpose of protection “Reasonableness Clause” of the Fourth

Amendment

Reasonable Suspicion balancing:

the need for swift action by an officer to investigate and to detect crime

the modest intrusion on individual privacy requiring an officer to wait until he/she has

developed probable cause would place society at risk

the facts relied on by the police officer are to be judged against the objective standard of whether the facts available to the officer at the moment of the seizure “warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that the action taken was appropriate”

Terry v. Ohio Three men engage in a “series of acts,”

each of which may have been “innocent in itself, but which taken together warranted further investigation”

“It would have been poor police work indeed for an officer of thirty years’ experience in the detection of thievery from stores in the same neighborhood to have failed to investigate this behavior.”

Determining Reasonable Suspicion facts cannot be “reduced to a neat set of

legal rules” case-by-case basis articulable suspicion objective standard of judgement experience, expertise, and informants totality of the circumstances probabilities probable cause vs. reasonable suspicion various facts contributing to reasonable

suspicion

Legal Equation

Informants and Hearsay

secondhand information / hearsay reports informants victims eyewitnesses police bulletins

must posses an “indicia of reliability”

Informants and Hearsay (cont.) informant credibility information specificity anonymous tips reasonable suspicion is a “less demanding

standard than probable cause” and may be based on less complete and less reliable information than is required for probable cause

Adams v. Williams and Alabama v. White

Legal Equation

Drug Courier Profiles typically are based on an analysis of the

behavior of individuals who have been arrested in the past for crimes such as air hijacking and illegal immigration.

first profiles were developed to detect trafficking in illegal narcotics.

“Markonni drug courier profile” three points concerning reliance on profiles

reasonable suspicion suspect’s conduct nonsuspicious conduct

Legal Equation

Race and Reasonable Suspicion

racial profiling to solely rely on race to stop an

individual would be contrary to the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments

sole factor incongruity identifications profiles

Legal Equation

Scope and Duration of Terry Stops

emphasis on “limited intrusion” challenges focus on three areas

movement length of detention intrusiveness

Legal Equations

Automobiles and Terry Stops Pennsylvania v. Mimms

officers can make driver and passengers exit a stopped vehicle

purpose of officer safety minor intrusion

three state supreme courts have have held that the police require reasonable suspicion to order a driver out of an automobile

two state supreme courts have held that an officer requires reasonable suspicion to order a passenger out of an automobile

Legal Equation

Frisks American criminals have a “long tradition of

armed violence” officers is entitled to protect him/herself by

searching the outer clothing of a suspicion individual

a frisk is intended to protect the officer and others in the vicinity and that it must therefore be “confined to an intrusion reasonably designed to discover guns, knives, clubs or other hidden instruments for assault of the police officer”

Frisks (cont.)

the officer need not be absolutely certain that the individual is armed and presently dangerous

the test is whether a reasonably prudent man or woman under the circumstances would believe that his or her safety or the safety of others is at risk

a number of courts have approved “automatic” frisks in the cases of suspected drug trafficking

Frisks (cont.)

automobiles Michigan v. Long the search must be limited to those areas in which a

“weapon may be placed or hidden”

narcotics narcotics can be seized as a result of a frisk immediate probable cause / immediately apparent plain-feel doctrine

Legal Equations

Legal Equation