During a Terry stop, an officer who has reasonable suspicion that a suspect is armed and dangerous may frisk the suspect and may confiscate any weapons that the officer finds. Does an officer have the same authority during a traffic stop? In other words, if an officer reasonably suspects that a driver is in possession of a gun, even lawfully, may the officer confiscate the gun for the duration of the stop as a safety precaution? What about during a consensual encounter between an officer and a pedestrian? Terry stops. It’s helpful to start with a review of the law regarding Terry stops. When an officer has reasonable suspicion that a person has just committed, or is about to commit, a crime, the officer may briefly detain the person to investigate. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). If the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person is armed and dangerous, the officer may also frisk the person for weapons and may confiscate any that the officer finds. Id. In the Terry stop context, it doesn’t matter whether the suspect is legally entitled to possess the weapon. If a person is reasonably likely to be involved in criminal activity and is armed, the person is dangerous even if not prohibited from possessing a weapon, and the officer may seize the weapon at least temporarily on that basis. In Terry itself, the Court upheld a frisk and the officer’s decision to “reach[] for and remove[] the [suspects’] guns” without regard to the [...]
Faculty Coordinators
