How to Handle Being Stopped and Frisked by the Police

The Fourth Amendment aims to protect the rights of people in the homes from having unreasonable searches and seizures. Under the Fourth Amendment, there should be a probable cause, the issuance of a search warrant, and an oath that identifies a specific place to be searched and the items to be seized. However, stop and frisk searches have become controversial as it allows for a police officer detain and search an individual without necessarily having a warrant. A stop can be defined as the detaining an individual for a reasonable time while a frisk is a pat-down of their outer clothing for weapons. There has been no clear ruling on whether a search can be deemed legal or illegal. One of the most famous rulings by the Supreme Court was the Terry v. Ohio case where the court held that stop and frisks were not a violation of the Fourth Amendment (“Chapter two: Legal issues for the police”, 2018). While a police officer can legally search an individual based on a probable cause, the case made it possible for search and frisks to be done without probable cause. There have been numerous cases heard by the Supreme Court regarding the limitation and application of the Fourth Amendment. The cases showed that the Supreme Court can have different rulings based on various factors such as whether a warrant was issued, a probable cause was established, and whether a reasonable suspicion had been established. The topic regarding stops and frisks can be applied in a situation where one has an encounter with a police officer. One can be asked to be stopped and frisked and in case one is driving, they would be required to provide a driver’s license identification. However, the police are limited to search one’s property unless they have a warrant or an established probable cause. A clear understanding of one’s rights is critical as it promotes the privacy of the individual. A new perspective on the topic of stop and frisks is that it may have allowed for increased violence against African Americans. Carbado (2017) notes that the stop and frisk facilitate violence against African Americans as police officers can target the racial group with little or no justification. There have been rogue law enforcement officers and those that have made bad judgments leading to the possibility of violence. This raises the question of whether stop and frisks should be legal as they violate the privacy of an individual but can also undermine public safety.

References 

Carbado, D. W. (2017). From Stop and Frisk to Shoot and Kill: Terry v. Ohio's Pathway to Police Violence.  UCLA L. Rev. ,  64 , 1508.

Chapter two: Legal issues for the police. (2018). In Theories and Practices in Criminal Justice.