If an officer pats you down during a police stop, you may wonder whether the officer had the right to search you. A stop does not automatically give police the right to frisk you because a frisk requires separate justification.
When can police perform a frisk?
Police may briefly stop you when specific facts give them reasonable suspicion that criminal activity may be occurring. To frisk you during that stop, however, the officer must be able to point to specific facts that give them reason to believe you may be armed and dangerous. A hunch or general suspicion is not enough.
Indiana’s Constitution also protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures. Under Article 1, Section 11, courts consider the circumstances surrounding the search, including the officer’s level of suspicion, how much the search intruded on you and law enforcement’s need to act.
Officers usually limit a frisk to patting down your outer clothing for weapons. Its purpose is officer safety, not a general search for evidence.
How far can a safety frisk go?
If an officer feels an object that appears to be a weapon, the officer may remove it. Police may also seize illegal items, such as drugs, when their unlawful nature is immediately obvious during a lawful pat-down.
However, officers generally cannot keep squeezing or manipulating an object after confirming it is not a weapon simply to determine whether the object is illegal. You do not have to give police permission for a broader search, although they may have another legal reason to conduct one.
The details of the stop can matter
Stay calm and do not physically resist the frisk. If an officer asks permission to conduct a broader search, you can clearly state that you do not consent. If police stop and frisk you, pay attention to what the officer says, why the stop occurred and what the officer searches. Those details can affect whether police had legal grounds for the frisk and stayed within its permitted scope.
