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- Title
Stopping For Traffic Violation Does Not Justify Unlimited Search.
- Authors
Ginsburg, Allen J.
- Abstract
This article looks at two court cases in the U.S. in 1967 which hold that the stopping for a traffic violation does not justify unlimited search of the defendant. In the case State versus Campbell, the defendant was convicted of possession of lottery slips. The defendant was stopped for a traffic violation, and when he could not produce a license or registration for the car, he was informed he would be locked up for being an unlicensed driver. Before being put into the police car, he underwent a customary pat-down or frisk, at which time the officer felt a bulge. The court, while recognizing the reasonableness of a pat-down for weapons as an incident of a traffic arrest, held that such a frisk should be limited to dangerous weapons to protect officers, and did not authorize the search for contraband, evidentiary material or anything else in absence of reasonable grounds for arrest. In the case People versus Tate, the defendant was convicted of gambling. Defendant had been stopped for a traffic violation and officers noticed an envelope in his pocket. The defendant told the officers he worked for a policy wheel and he was arrested. Inside the envelope the arresting officers found policy slips. The court held that the envelope itself and belief that it contained policy slips were subjective and insufficient basis for search, unless predicated upon objective facts. The court said the search was not justified merely because the defendant had been stopped for a traffic offense.
- Subjects
UNITED States; TRAFFIC violations -- Cases; CRIME scene searches; CRIMINAL evidence; ARREST; GAMBLING
- Publication
Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science, 1968, Vol 59, Issue 2, p274
- ISSN
0022-0205
- Publication type
Article