Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamZ
Pulling out the case law. I love it. For a terry frisk (or as you said terry pat) I can only frisk for weapons for my safety so if I felt a baggy in their pocket or anything I could only ask him what it is. He can say a bag of candy and that would be the end of it. Even if I was sure it was dope. Unless I saw him put it there then it's forbidden territory.
You are right with probable cause and reasonable belief. I need probably cause to search a vehicle. Even with reasonable belief I can not search anything. I can however frisk for weapons just for my safety with just reasonable belief.
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Have you heard of the "plain feel" doctrine? If the item in the pocket is immediately recognized as weed, crack etc due to you extensive experience, you can seize it. It can't be manipulated, squeezed etc, it has to be immediately apparent.
Back to the original post. What exactly did you charge them with? Admitting to smoking weed previously? Did they ever hand you over the weed or did you just charge them because you "knew" they smoked it at some point prior to coming back into the office? Either you are leaving out some facts or you made a bad arrest.