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High
Court Bars Police Search Tied to Anonymous Tip |
This
excerpt is exactly as it appeared in the The Los Angeles Times as
it was written by |
David
G. Savage |
| |
| WASHINGTON
- in a rare rebuff to police, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that
an officer may not stop and frisk a pedestrian base only on an anonymous
caller's tip. |
| Instead
the justices reaffirmed the Constitution's protection against unreasonable
searches and stressed that officers need specific reliable evidence
of some wrongdoing before they stop a person on the street. |
| The
surprising 9-0 ruling threw out gun-welding charges against a black
youth in Miami who was frisked and arrested at a bus stop. |
| Some
legal experts said Tuesday's decision may well reflect the justices'
heightened concern over unrestrained police power. It came amid a
backdrop of police shootings of innocent, unarmed black civilians
in New York City and a corruption scandal in the anti-gang unit of
the Los Angeles Police Department. |
| "This
sends an important message that there are limits on what the police
can do," said University of Iowa law professor James J. Tomkovicz,
who filed a brief on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"This decision because it is unanimous, emphatically says the
4th amendment still means something. What's happened in New York and
Los Angeles has made clear there are risks to ignoring the 4th amendment. |
| But
a national police leader called the ruling baffling and said it would
leave officers and the public more vulnerable to gun-toting thugs. |
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