Nona's Tip of the Week #2

10/16/2014

Jeff link

10/17/2014 12:38:37 am

Minding My Own Business and A Police Officer Approaches Me

There is no doubt that police officers in Idaho and around the United States have a lot of power. With the high number of police shootings around the country lately, many would argue this power has exceeded its bounds and needs to be curtailed.
And while there is no doubt that law enforcement holds a vital role in keeping society safe and secure, it is important now, more than ever, for people to understand their constitutional rights with respect to police officers.
One area of particular importance is the meaning of a “seizure” within the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. To the average person, the term “seizure” probably resonates more with medical terminology than it does anything else. But seizure as provided in the Constitution does not refer to the uncontrolled convulsions one suffers, but to the restraint of one’s liberty.
A seizure occurs when a police officer uses physical force or a show of authority that would lead a reasonable person to believe that he or she is not free to leave.
Does this mean that a person has been seized if a police officer approaches a person on the street and asks them a question, but that person doesn’t feel free to leave?
No. A police officer may generally ask a person questions even if the officer doesn’t suspect any illegal activity.
However, at the same time, the person being questioned is free to go about their business and ignore the police officer’s questions. Nothing in the law requires a person to stay and interact with an officer.
For instance, police officers often search buses for drugs as they travel across country. And in one particular instance, a bus passenger who was travelling from Miami to Atlanta awoke to two police officers standing over him. The police officers asked the passenger for his identification and bus ticket to which he consented. The officers then asked for his permission to search his bags and again he consented. Unfortunately for the passenger, he had a pound of cocaine in his bag.
In reviewing the passenger’s case, the Supreme Court of the United States held that he was not seized because a reasonable person under the circumstances would have felt free to walk away. Had the passenger known his constitutional rights, he wouldn’t have allowed the officers to search his bags.
The underlying problem in the bus passenger’s case is that the majority of people under the same circumstances would have done the same thing and consented to the search. This is why it is crucial for citizens to know their rights with respect to police officers.
If you are minding your own business and police officer approaches you, please remember that you are free to leave—it’s your constitutional right.

Nicole

10/17/2014 05:10:38 am

This is very helpful!! Good to know

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Nona's Tip of the Week #2

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