4th Amendment - Seizures Flashcards
Seizure
A seizure occurs when an officer uses force to physically restrain a person or when the person submits to a show of authority. Common examples include grabbing, holding, the display of a weapon, or the use of language or tone indicating that compliance with the officer’s request is mandatory. A seizure does NOT occur, however, until the person who is ordered to stop, actually, stops. In other words, there is no seizure without actual submission.
1) The crucial question as to when a seizure occurs is whether a reasonable person would feel free to decline the officer’s request and terminate the encounter.
Traffic Stops
An officer may lawfully stop a vehicle when the officer has reason to believe that a law has been violated. A traffic stop is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment, and for the duration of the stop, the officer effectively seizes everyone in the vehicle, the driver and all passengers.
1) The rationale is that NO reasonable passenger would fee free to leave the scene. As such, the passenger, as well as the driver, has standing to challenge the constitutionality of the traffic stop.
Checkpoint Stops
The Supreme Court has previously upheld checkpoint stops that were designed primarily to serve purposes closely related to the necessity of ensuring roadway safety. Special law enforcement concerns will sometimes justify brief checkpoint stops without individualized suspicion e.g. sobriety checkpoints, border patrol checkpoints, and when the police ask vehicle occupants for their help in providing information about recent accident.
1) Although such stops are seizures under the Fourth Amendment, they are NOT unreasonable given that they relate to the state’s interest in roadway safety. But police checkpoints set up for general crime control purposes are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
2) Furthermore, a police checkpoint must stop individuals on the basis of some neutral criteria such as every car or every other car.
