Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 53
Courts have eroded the strong protection of the warrant requirement
over the years—there are so many present day exceptions to
obtaining a warrant that the exceptions now swallow the rule. This
Chapter will discuss the many ways police can conduct warrantless
arrests and warrantless searches of your body, vehicle, and home.
II. WHEN CAN THE POLICE SEARCH OR ARREST ME WITHOUT A
WARRANT?
A. Stop and frisk
If a police officer has developed reasonable suspicion a person
has committed a crime, he can detain and pat down that person
to search for weapons. This “stop and frisk” is commonly referred
to as a Terry Stop. Named after Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968),
this type of search is confined to “…guns, knives, clubs, or other
hidden instrumentalities for the assault of the police officer.”
Recall from Chapter 2 that reasonable suspicion is an extremely
low standard. An officer has to have just a little more than a hunch
that you might be involved in criminal activity. A Terry Stop is
limited to an over-the-clothes search for weapons; however, if
an officer can determine through touch alone that a person is
in possession of contraband (the “plain feel” doctrine), he can
confiscate the contraband and charge the person with a criminal
violation. How far does plain feel go? While the officer cannot
squeeze, move, or manipulate the things in your pockets to see
if the items feel like contraband, it is not uncommon for police
officers to claim they could tell by plain feel that someone was
in possession of a crack rock or a marijuana joint. If he feels
contraband in your pockets, he can arrest you, and the evidence
he found on your body is admissible in court.
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