Pat-Downs of Passengers by Police Approved by U.S. Supreme Court

[jump] Anytime an officer is suspicious someone is carrying drugs or other illegal contraband, the person can be searched for "weapons." The officer has nothing to lose, now that the Supreme Court has spoken: If the search produces no weapons, there's no legal foul ball. But if it produces drugs, the cop is...

By Ray Stern

January 26, 2009

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Anytime an officer is suspicious someone is carrying drugs or other illegal contraband, the person can be searched for "weapons." The officer has nothing to lose, now that the Supreme Court has spoken: If the search produces no weapons, there's no legal foul ball. But if it produces drugs, the cop is rewarded with a felony bust.

You can read the Supreme Court's reasoning in its opinion here.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.