Location: Philadelphia PA my Girlfriend is going to college at temple university in Philadelphia. I visit her quite often and have to travel though a high crime area sometimes when I get close to where she lives. She has a house that is a couple blocks from a high crime / open air drug market, the closest grocery store that I would walk to is in the bad part. I have been stoped twice, once in a car and once while walking. I circled around the area for a few minutes to find a spot big enough to park my car. I finally found a spot, parked and started following my gps to her house. I walked down a treat and as I turned the corner I was stopped by a few officers. They said they knew I was there to buy drugs and said they had to search me. I told them no but they kept going and ended up searching me. I didn’t have anything illegal and they let me go. How am I supposed to know what blocks they sell on or where I can and can’t walk?
I am wondering is this legal for them to search me just because I walked down a street that supposedly sells drugs ? I guess they saw me go down the top of the street and stopped me on the other side / end of the street. Don’t they need probable cause to search someone ? It’s mostly just annoying and wastes a few minutes of my time but I think they are wrong. I would assume even if I did have a drug or something it would get thrown out in court. It seems like they don’t like to follow the rules / laws to try and intimidate people.
If it ever happens again what can I say to avoid it? Can I just ask if I am being detained and if they say no just keep walking ?
What are your thoughts ?
Comments
Caveat: not familiar with PA case law.
It sounds like these officers are attempting to conduct a “Terry Stop” which is so called because it draws its authority from Terry v. Ohio, a Supreme Court case from the 60s that says if they have Reasonable Articulable Suspicion, or “RAS” that criminal activity is afoot, they may detain you to confirm or dispel their suspicion. Obviously there is 60 more years of case law interpreting Terry, so this is a very reductive answer. My guess is Terry is the authority they would cite to defend your detention if challenged in Court, so there is something they think you are doing (circling the block in a drug neighborhood) that meets their perception of criminal activity afoot. As long as they can articulate RAS in court (not to you on the sidewalk) the reality is there probably isn’t a whole lot you can do.
If these are plainclothes narcotics officers I would exercise caution in dealing with them as they have a reputation for being aggressive.
Remember, fight bad policing in the courtroom, not on the street. After the detention ask for badge numbers and names. Use your cell phone to record. Call and complain; I usually suggest approaching it from the perspective of “obviously you guys are missing something since you’re detaining innocent civilians instead of drug dealers” because that seems to be more productive. Contact the ACLU, local Legal Aid, or other advocacy organizations designed to take on bad policing policies and let them know what’s going on.