Stop and frisk

Posted on: July 18, 2022 at 14:12:57 CT

A stop-and-frisk refers to a brief non-intrusive police stop of a suspect. The Fourth Amendment requires that before stopping the suspect, the police must have a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed by the suspect. If the police reasonably suspect that the suspect is armed and dangerous, the police may frisk the suspect, meaning that the police will give a quick pat-down of the suspect's outer clothing.

The frisk is also called a Terry Stop, derived from the Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). Terry held that a stop-and-frisk must comply with the Fourth Amendment, meaning that the stop-and-frisk cannot be unreasonable. According to the Terry court, a reasonable stop-and-frisk is one "in which a reasonably prudent officer is warranted in the circumstances of a given case in believing that his safety or that of others is endangered, he may make a reasonable search for weapons of the person believed by him to be armed and dangerous."

The reasonable suspicion standard is far lower than the standard of probable cause which is required for a custodial arrest.

Using that standard, it was appropriate, and Constitutional, for the Capitol Police to stop and frisk a man who shouts abusive vulgarities at and behaves aggressively towards a Member of Congress on the steps of the US Capitol. This is true regardless of whether the Member being abused is AOC or Rand Paul. The Members of Congress are entitled to an elevated level of protection.

If you don't like that, I suggest you write them a letter instead of screaming abusively at them on the Capitol steps or other federal property. Life is really simple in that respect.

Edited by *M* at 14:13:21 on 07/18/22