- [Narrator] A Terry stop is a brief investigative stop
of an individual or a vehicle by a law-enforcement officer.
Another term for a Terry stop is investigative detention.
A Terry stop is often accompanied by a pat down or frisk
to detect any weapons.
For this reason,
a Terry stop is also called a stop and frisk
although the stop and the frisk are legally separate events.
The Terry stop is named after the 1968 US Supreme Court case
of Terry v. Ohio which established guidelines
for the use of stop and frisk procedures.
Although a Terry stop isn't an arrest,
Terry stops are subject
to the Fourth Amendment's prohibition
against unlawful searches and seizures.
An officer may stop someone
if the officer has a reasonable suspicion
that the person has committed or is about to commit a crime.
The officer's suspicion must be based on specific,
articulable facts that would lead a reasonable officer
to suspect criminal activity.
The officer can't rely merely on a feeling or a hunch.
On the other hand, the officer doesn't need probable cause
which is a higher level of proof required for an arrest.
Whether an officer had a reasonable suspicion
of criminal activity
will depend on the totality of the circumstances.
For example, imagine that an officer
was patrolling a neighborhood known for its high crime rate.
The officer saw a person standing on the street corner
with his hands in his pockets.
The person's mere presence in the area
probably isn't enough for reasonable suspicion.
Now imagine that the person saw the officer
and began nervously shuffling his feet,
looking around and obviously trying to appear casual.
This is more likely to create reasonable suspicion.
If the person spotted the officer
and began sprinting in the opposite direction
then the officer almost certainly may follow
and conduct a Terry stop.
During a Terry stop, an officer may demand identification
and ask reasonable questions
including questions unrelated to the reason for the stop.
During a traffic stop, the officer may require the occupants
to exit the vehicle.
An officer also may arrest someone
for failing to comply with reasonable instructions
during a Terry stop.
A Terry stop must be no longer and no more intrusive
than reasonably necessary
for the officer to confirm or dispel reasonable suspicion.
Therefore, invasive searches or overlong detentions
exceed the limits of a Terry stop
and are likely to be treated as arrests instead.
An arrest requires probable cause
which is a higher justification
than the reasonable suspicion required for a Terry stop.
In addition to investigating,
an officer who conducts a Terry stop
may sometimes perform a frisk.
A frisk is a brief pat down of a person
to detect any weapons.
To frisk someone,
the officer must have a reasonable suspicion
that the person is armed and dangerous.
This may or may not be the same
as the reasonable suspicion used to make the stop initially.
Therefore, a frisk isn't automatically part of a Terry stop
but requires its own justification.
For instance, assume that an officer
made a proper Terry stop of a person wearing jeans
and an untucked T-shirt.
If the officer saw no indications of a weapon
and didn't think the person was armed and dangerous
then he may not conduct a frisk.
On the other hand, if the officer saw a pistol shaped bulge
beneath the shirt then a frisk would be justified.
The scope of the frisk must not exceed what is necessary
to discover a weapon.
This usually limits the officer
to patting down the person's outer clothing.
During a traffic stop,
the officer may conduct a limited search
of the vehicle's passenger compartment
if the officer has a reasonable suspicion
that the occupants might immediately gain control
of weapons.
A frisk is intended to ensure officer safety
thus an officer may not perform a frisk
for the purpose of finding contraband or gathering evidence.
Nonetheless, an officer doesn't have to ignore the obvious.
If an officer conducting a frisk
feels an object that is obviously a weapon or contraband,
the officer may seize the object without a warrant.
This is called the plain feel doctrine.
However, the plain feel doctrine doesn't apply
if the officer has to manipulate the object in any way
to determine what it is.
The plain sight doctrine similarly allows the officer
to seize any weapons or contraband
that come into the officer's plain view
during a stop or subsequent frisk.