When police officers physically search people, what they find can lead to criminal charges. Drugs ranging from prescription medications to prohibited substances can turn up during bodily searches. They can then be the main evidence the state relies on when bringing drug charges against that person.
Those facing drug charges may hope to fight back. One of the more common strategies used to defend against drug charges involved excluding certain evidence. In scenarios where police officers break the law or violate the civil rights of an individual, their actions can compromise the usefulness of the evidence they collect.
How do drug defendants determine whether a search of their person was legal or not?
The law limits physical searches
If police officers could physically search anyone they encountered in public, it could be very easy for them to abuse that authority. They could target specific people. They could also engage in profiling by intentionally searching people with specific characteristics or those present in certain neighborhoods that have a strong association with criminal activity. Such conduct could easily devolve into harassment and abuse.
People interacting with the police benefit from the broad protection of the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment specifically protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Supreme Court of the United States has had to rule on a major case related to bodily searches, also known as frisks, pat-downs or Terry stops. That last name comes from the case in which the Supreme Court ruled to limit such searches.
Police officers can search people when they have their permission. They can also search people when they already have the necessary probable cause to arrest them. Outside of those two circumstances, police officers can only search people physically in one situation.
Specifically, they need to reasonably suspect that the person may possess a dangerous weapon. Suspicion that they may have drugs on their person is not an adequate reason to conduct a pat-down search.
People hoping to fight drug charges can sometimes establish that the police officers who arrested them violated their rights. If they can, then their lawyers may be able to prevent the use of the evidence obtained during that search. Excluding evidence found during an illegal search can play an important role in a drug crime defense strategy.
