AHM
NES Member
Just tripped over this 2010 SJC decision about consensual police encounters and Terry frisks:
(I tripped over it while looking for Mass case law about
police conducting inventory searches of vehicles merely getting towed for safety purposes -
not because they are involved in a crime).
My summary:
In Massachusetts, police cannot escalate a consensual encounter of someone
(a "field interrogation observation") into a Terry frisk for weapons
unless:
and they suddenly smell a rat and suspect that the subject is primed to use a weapon,
they're not required to go through some sequential process before the frisk.
But neither can they frisk someone they're chatting up because of a mere generic hunch.
The defendant name "Narcisse" sounds familiar to me,
so maybe some other Mass case law cites it.
But I can't find any uses of the name on NES,
so I'm just putting this in here for general information.
(I tripped over it while looking for Mass case law about
police conducting inventory searches of vehicles merely getting towed for safety purposes -
not because they are involved in a crime).
NARCISSE, COMMONWEALTH vs., 457 Mass. 1
masscases.com
My summary:
In Massachusetts, police cannot escalate a consensual encounter of someone
(a "field interrogation observation") into a Terry frisk for weapons
unless:
- They have Reasonable Articulable Suspicion that crime is afoot(*), and
- (*) That the individual has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a criminal offense.
- They reasonably suspect that the person is armed, and
- They reasonably suspect that the person is presently dangerous.
and they suddenly smell a rat and suspect that the subject is primed to use a weapon,
they're not required to go through some sequential process before the frisk.
But neither can they frisk someone they're chatting up because of a mere generic hunch.
The defendant name "Narcisse" sounds familiar to me,
so maybe some other Mass case law cites it.
But I can't find any uses of the name on NES,
so I'm just putting this in here for general information.