If I'm just walking down a street, can a Police Office grab me and search me for no reason?

ellenrose219

No.

beaglesbasher4life1

something tells me tat you are giving part of the story.......and if the rest of the situation was posted it would be clearly evident what happened.

so basically, if you were searched for "no reason what so ever" take your best shot and sue him and the department.

April was here

This is so wrong! But they can say what they want, and it is very hard to fight what an officer says. Unfortunately some people get into law enforcement for the wrong reasons, they want to be in control, and that can play into their actions and abuse of their status. You must be completely conforming if this happens, or they may get abusive and even make up problems for you to deal with. Be careful trying to get any recource on an out of control police officer. Most of them are good, honest, hard working people. We would be lost without them, but there are those others...

Oriol J

Well, considering that police is bad, they are racist and irrationals...
I can understand, they are fascists...

Kenneth C

For a cop to just grab you and search you out of the clear blue is nonsense. If they went in your pockets for no reason, then you would have a lawsuit on your hands and that officer would be fired. Otherwise, please tell the whole story and your question would be better answered.

Miss Penelope â™¥

NO WAY! He was a pervert, and he has no right to do that. You should report this to somebody. This person might not be a real police officer, and you should report him.

$Hustla_on_tha_Money$

A police officer is not able to do this without liable cause, doing this without having any reason is probably against the law, but depending where you are located. You have to let the person know why they are being searched, with a valid reason. You don't need a reason if your taking the person in.

You should make a complaint to your local Police Department. Also, check the laws of your area and see if he has rights to check you with no reason.

Lovely

well they can in the moives, but in all the cop videos (real cops not t.v. cops) they always try to reason w/ the person, then if they don't coorperate they get forceful, but if you do it's still very uncomptorable

Ali Karimi8

some times the police can search you if somthing has happend nearby

Not Applicable

Funny you should say this.. about 3 months ago, walking down the street, I was swarmed by three cop cars. Ok sag-way here.. moments before I found an item along side the road. Later I learn the item I picked up was stolen and the thieves left it along side the road. Anyway I had this item in my hands as the cops swarmed around me. I didn't panic, they asked me to have a sit on the curb. After a moment they asked me to remove my hat and sun glasses. I responded "erm am I under arrest?" "No Sir" they replied. "We got a report of someone matching your description in the area was wanted for attempted murder" one officer said. I couldn't believe it I laughed. "Common, the only thing I have ever did "wrong" was a speeding ticket 95 in a 35 zone.. (erm as a teen and in my supped up, 63 Vw Bug)" back to the story.. as I sat on the curb, hat off, sun glasses off, a car pulled up. The window rolled down, and a woman stuck her head out and replied. "Officer that surely looks like my ex-boyfriend come back to kill me".. I couldn't believe it.. I said "lady I don't know you from eve" " besides if I had ever strayed from my wife of 11 years she would surly kill me". The lady drove off.. the offers told me to excuse them for stopping me and I could be on my way. Matter of fact I was walking the item up the street to the local store, The same store the item was stolen from by chance. Did I get a reward?.. nope but it felt good knowing I wasn't the one wanted for murder.. :P

iturnrocks

No. You could try filing a complaint, but you probably wont get very far unless you have a recording of the act.

cowrepo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_suspicion

Read about reasonable suspicion

Disclaimer: I am not a cop or lawyer

chotpeper

sure if you where just mugged by someone in a ski mask and someone matching your assailants description was walking down the street wouldn't you want that person searched . police have to work harder everyday in dangerous situations all the time .all he did was search you not take you to jail .

Smoky!

A police officer must have probable cause to search anyone unless it is incidental to arrest, however probable cause can be any number of things and it would be difficult for you to dispute!!

Will

This is difficult to answer. The official answer based on the information provided is... No he can not do that.

HOWEVER there are a lot of details that change that answer to yes.

1) You match the description of a person that is wanted for questioning
2) You are in the vicinity where a crime has taken place
3) Your presence is suspicious by the nature of the environment (Like in a park at 3am)

The list actually can get quite long. So there are enough reasons that a cop has to pretty much stop anyone for anything. You could have done something as simple as stepped off the curb and that might have violated the local j-walking laws. You can never tell but what you CAN do is call the police department and tell them you have a grievance.

They will investigate the issue and return to you a report of what the primary reason for your stop was (I.E. they generate a report for probable cause)

Now if he did not ask to search you then likely he was operating under some sort of issue that required him to assure public safety.

Hope future run ins are less "exciting"

trackstud610

no they cant.... they would have to give you a reason... otherwise its just a waste of time and they are not doing their jobs like they are supposed too... i would talk to the chief and be like i want something done about it right now and get my way or make it more public.... there is no reason for anything liek taht to happen... cops have something better to than taht i would hope

*****

No, he has to have reasonable cause to stop and search you. If you can prove that this is not the case, then report this guy to internal affairs.

fr_chuck

Do you live in Columibia, or maybe Iraq or Iran, there of course they can.

In the US police need a reason.

kentata

For no reason? No
But, I'll bet if you want to pursue this, probable cause will appear.

c.arsenault

He could make up a probable cause reason.

blossom1014

That doesn't sounds right at all

screaminhangover

here's a video from the ACLU about what the cops can and can't do

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8520847761350501823

Everett H

Yes, All they have to do is say: He fit tht e description of a perp. or Made a suspiciouse movement so I felt he might be concealing a weapon or other contraban. Its a game you can't win its happened to me too. I'm white and I had long hair. I just looked up saw the cop sitting there in his car and was a little startled. The cop saw it and asked for my ID and searched me I didn't have my ID on me since I was just going to the corner store and so he took me in. since I lived alone and had no way of contacting anyone I sat for 72 hours til they ran my prints and let me go. That was 15 years ago. I'm sure after 9/11 its way worse if your brown or black or have long hair or whatever other profile you may fit.

Garacaius

NO, he has to have some kind of reason. You have to look suspicious or look like someone that is wanted.

kgsult

The whole purpose of a cop searching someone in that manner is to "search for Weapons" for the officers saftey. It's case law called a frisk search. A cop doesn't need to much reason to perform this search other than at that time and moment you may have been suspisious enough for him to want to search you. very easy for the cop to get around this cause if it went to court he would just say "OFFICER SAFETY"

Reo

Obviously, the cop chose to not tell you the reason. It may have been a lot of things. You may have looked like a perp he was looking for. Maybe you looked suspicious. If you live in a racially volatile area, it coud have simply been your skin color. Unless you are actually guilty of a crime, the best thing to do is be compliant, call him sir and answer all his questions politely and courteously.

rukidding

I find this senario hard to believe.

breastfed43

only if you are black

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