Related Terms:
Plain Feel Doctrine
,
Plain View Doctrine
Also known as a Terry frisk.
Named after the 1968 US Supreme Court case in which it emanated (
Terry v Ohio).
Later, in Michigan v Long. Justice O'Connor summarized the authority in Michigan v Long:
"[A]
protective search for weapons in the absence of probable cause to
arrest (is valid) because it is unreasonable to deny a police officer
the right to neutralize the threat of physical harm when he possesses an
articulate suspicion that an individual is armed and dangerous."
In more detail, the same Court, Justice Rehnquist writing the opinion of the majority, in Adams v Williams, added:
"In Terry
this Court recognized that a police officer may in appropriate
circumstances and in an appropriate manner approach a person for
purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there
is no probable cause to make an arrest. The Fourth Amendment
does not require a policeman who lacks the precise level of information
necessary for probable cause to arrest to simply shrug his shoulders
and allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape. On the contrary, Terry v Ohio
recognizes that it may be the essence of good police work to adopt an
intermediate response. A brief stop of a suspicious individual, in order
to determine his identity or to maintain the status quo momentarily
while obtaining more information, may be most reasonable in light of the
facts known to the officer at the time.
"The Court recognized in Terry v Ohio
that the policeman making a reasonable investigatory stop should not be
denied the opportunity to protect himself from attack by a hostile
suspect. When an officer is justified in believing that the individual
whose suspicious behavior he is investigating at close range is armed
and presently dangerous to the officer or to others, he may conduct a
limited protective search for concealed weapons. The purpose of this
limited search is not to discover evidence of crime, but to allow the
officer to pursue his investigation without fear of violence, and thus
the frisk for weapons might be equally necessary and reasonable, whether
or not carrying a concealed weapon violated any applicable state law.
So long as the officer is entitled to make a forcible stop, and has
reason to believe that the suspect is armed and dangerous, he may
conduct a weapons search limited in scope to this protective purpose."
The pat-down search must be limited to what is necessary for the
discovery of weapons and, if it goes beyond that limit, the fruits of
the search will be suppressed.
1
The State of Louisiana has codified the authority for a Terry search at 215.1(B) of Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure (2011).
"When
a law enforcement officer has stopped a person for questioning pursuant
to this Article and reasonably suspects he is in danger, he may frisk
the outer clothing of such person for a dangerous weapon. If the law
enforcement officer reasonably believes the person possesses a dangerous
weapon, he may search the person."
REFERENCES:
- Adams v Williams, 407 US 143 (1972)
- Michigan v. Long, 463 US 1032 (1983)
- State v. Furlow, 780 So. 2d 602 (2001; note 1)
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 US 1 (1968)