The Terry Frisk: Its Origins and Three Things to Note

9 July 2015 by Jonathan Phillips

The origin of the term "Terry Frisk" dates back to 1968. While on a patrol, a police officer noticed three men walking back and forth on the street and paying significant interest in one store. His experience led him to believe that the men were canvassing the store with the intention of breaking into it. He stopped them, identified himself, and found an illegal gun when frisking one of them.

When the issue ended up in court, the men claimed that the search had been illegal because the officer neither had a warrant nor probable cause for stopping and frisking them. The Supreme Court rejected this defense with the reasoning that police officers have the leeway of stopping and frisking civilians when they suspect criminal intent. The man who had been frisked was Terry, hence the term Terry frisk.

The laws governing stop and search incidences may have changed over the years, but there are still some common elements that you need to be aware of. These useful elements of a Terry frisk include:

Reasonable Suspicion Is Enough as a Ground

One of the problems people have with Terry frisks is why they have to be stopped in the first place. Well, you should know that an officer just needs to be reasonable suspicious that you are about to commit a crime for him or her to stop you.

Reasonable suspicion just means that your actions would lead an ordinary person to think that you are planning a crime. For example, if you have been standing outside a jeweler store for some time, neither going in nor away, then it is reasonable to suspect that you intend to rob it. This gives a police officer the legal right to frisk you.

It Has Its Limitations

Just because an officer of the law has reasonable suspicions that you are planning a crime doesn't give him or her any right to turn your pockets inside out while looking for contraband. The search is limited to the exterior of your person.

He or she can only reach into your pockets or shoes (all these are intrusive searches) if his or her exterior search discovers what looks like an illegal object. For example, if an officer frisking you feels what looks like a knife inside your jacket, then he or she can command you to remove it or even reach for it. However, if a search doesn't reveal anything, then he or she doesn't have the right to empty your pockets or remove your clothes to continue the search.

You Don't Have to Talk

Lastly, you should know that you don't have to explain yourself when a police officer frisks you and discovers something illegal. Sure, you ought to cooperate by keeping your hands out of the way, holding still when being searched and such things, but that's all. You don't need to tell the officer that the knife in your jacket pocket is your fruit knife.

Cooperate with the officer frisking you and commit to memory anything he or she does. Such details may come in handy if you end up being arrested. For example, your defense attorney like Law Offices Of Timothy J Ormes may file for the dismissal of evidence obtained in an illegal manner.

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