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Investigative Stop of Suspect -- Prerequisites

NCJ Number
168094
Journal
Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook Dated: (July 1996) Pages: 1-10
Author(s)
J C Coleman
Date Published
1996
Length
10 pages
Annotation
In this legal case, the trial judge faced the question of whether police officers who made an investigatory stop of a drug suspect in Charleston, South Carolina, exceeded the bounds of their authority.
Abstract
The suspect was identified in a "high-drug area" and was arrested for violating a city ordinance against carrying a concealed weapon. After a strip search at the jail, a clear plastic bag containing crack cocaine was found on his person. The police officers acknowledged they stopped the suspect as part of a proactive mission to prevent crime. The suspect, however, moved to suppress evidence of the money and drugs found on him because he claimed the police stop and the frisk were unconstitutional. The court determined the police officers did not have reasonable suspicion the suspect was involved in criminal activity since they did not see a drug transaction. Further, the court did not believe the frisk was necessary to protect the police officers and ruled the fact the suspect was in a high-crime neighborhood was not by itself enough to raise a reasonable suspicion. 3 photographs