AbdelKareem Suleeman

March 23, 2014

Law in Action, Cycle 3 Stop And Frisk

The NYPD Stop, Question and Frisk policy allows Officers to search individuals without a warrant only if they have probable cause. This allows Officers to stop and question pedestrians on the streets on probable cause; whether the officer thinks he/she is committing a crime or is about to. The main purpose of the Stop, Question and frisk policy is to frisk individuals for weapons and other illegal contrabands. This conflict first started when the United States Supreme Court first sanctioned it from the Fourth
Amendment. The Fourth Amendment declared Stop Question and frisk to be constitutional after 40 years passed from Terry v. Ohio. In order for the officer to conduct a frisk, they must believe with their experience and reasonable suspicion that the individual person poses a threat to the public and is endangering the safety of others. A stop is different from an arrest. An arrest is a lengthy process in which the suspect is taken to the police station and booked, where as a stop involves only a temporary interference with a person's liberty. If the officer uncovers further evidence during the frisk, the stop may lead to an actual arrest, but if no further evidence is found, the person is released.

“Unlike a full search, a frisk is generally limited to a patting down of the outer clothing. If the officer feels what seems to be a weapon, the officer may then reach inside the person's clothing. If no weapon is felt, the search may not intrude further than the outer clothing”.(“legal­dictionary”) In the Stop and Frisk there are four levels of standards. The two lowest levels of the standards call for intrusion. The minimum amount of intrusion a police officer can do is stop the pedestrian and ask for information. This type of information can be plain, nonthreatening questions regarding your identity, address and the place where the individual plans to be going. In order to be defensible by his/her conduct for the reason of the stop, question and frisk, the police officer has to state an unbiased credible reason. At the top 2 levels which are 3 and 4, the Officer can make a forcible stop and detention. This is only when the Police Officer has reasonable suspicion that the
Pedestrian has committed, or is about to commit a felony or misdemeanor. At level 4 which is the last level, the police officer may arrest the person and take him/her into custody. This happens when the police officer has probable cause that he believes the person committed an offense or crime in the Officer’s presence. If an officer stops an individual and the purpose of the stop is not correct, then the officer has violated the citizen’s fourth amendment rights.

Having a citizen’s fourth amendment rights violated by a police officer may be hard to prove due to the fact there is no evidence collected. It is very rare for stop and frisk incidents to be reviewed by the court because there may be limited amount of witnesses. NYPD policy states that when a Police officer conducts a stop and frisk, they have to fill out a forum called UF­250. This forum requires the officer to write the location of the stop and frisk, the timing, the description of what happened during the stop, identifying the characteristics of the individual who was stopped, the purpose for why the individual was stopped;