Court: No to search based on anonymous tip
United Press International - March 28, 2000 10:49
By MICHAEL KIRKLAND
WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court ruled unanimously
Tuesday that police across the country may not stop and frisk someone
based solely on an anonymous tip that the person is carrying a gun.
The decision, which came in a Florida case and is sure to be decried
by police groups, said an officer must also believe criminal activity
has taken place and that the person is dangerous before they conduct a
"limited" search of someone's outer clothing for a gun.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the prevailing opinion for seven of
the court's nine members. Two other justices joined in a separate
opinion agreeing with the judgment, but for slightly different reasons.
"...The tip reliability necessary to justify a stop and frisk is
not just accuracy in identifying a particular person," Ginsburg
said from the bench, "the tip, most essentially must bear signs of
reliability regarding the charged conduct..."
Ginsburg warned about the misuse of anonymous tips. Making a
stop-and-frisk "exception would enable seeking to make trouble for
another to instigate an intrusive, embarrassing police search simply by
placing an anonymous call falsely reporting that that other is
unlawfully carrying a gun. The Fourt Amendment," which bans
unreasonable searches, "secures our persons against such easy
invasion."
In the Florida case, Miami Police Officer Carmen Anderson testified
that in October 1995 she was dispatched to the corner of 183rd St. and
24th Ave. following an anonymous tip.
The tipster told the police department that three black males were
standing in front of a bus stop, and that one wearing a plaid shirt was
carrying a gun. When Anderson and another officer arrived on the scene,
she told one young man wearing a plaid shirt to place his hands on the
bus top.
While her partner frisked the other two males, Anderson searched the
individual wearing a plaid shirt and spotted the butt of a gun sticking
out of his left pant pocket, she testified later. Anderson removed the
gun and placed the young male, who turned out to be a juvenile, under
arrest.
At trial, a state judge suppressed the evidence of the gun, and the
Florida Supreme Court eventually agreed in a 3-2 decision, citing the
Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable search and seizure.
In a concurring opinion making up the majority, one state justice
said in part, "The solution to this country's firearm epidemic
cannot come at the expense of the principles set forth in the federal
Constitution."
However, another state justice said in dissent, "The
possession...of a concealed firearm by an individual in a public place
or at a public event is a prescription for disaster, but the possession
of a concealed firearm by a child is an especially dangerous and
explosive situation."
Florida officials then asked the U.S. Supreme Court for review, and
argument was heard last month.
Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court "affirmed" or upheld the
Florida court.
(No. 98-1993, Florida vs. J.L.)
--
Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
--
|
