Quote:
Originally Posted by epitome
Cops like to say things like you must be guilty of something if you are on a certain block at night.
I think they are guilty of something if they don't want a video of them working.
One thing I do not understand is how the NYPD can pat down anybody they want for no reason. Isn't that an illegal search and seizure? Maybe Joe will weigh in on that.
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It's a Terry Stop - a brief detention without probable cause based on a reasonable suspicion of crime based on articulable facts. If the cop has articulable facts, and a reasonable fear of danger to himself from weapons, he can do a pat-down of outer garments. This has lead to other cases based on an analogy to the "plain view" doctrine, when the contours of illegal contraband rather than weapons are felt during the pat-down. Read all about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_stop.
In practice, a Terry Stop is understood to end and an arrest requiring probable cause begins in the eyes of many courts, after some one is held for an hour or moved to another location. The general inspection of a car for weapons within reach of a motorist is not the same as a search of the vehicle, and without probable cause, a cop can't legally remove the rear seat, open the trunk, etc.
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Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice. . . Restraint in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue.
Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964