[randlemanboater]

Originally Posted by Kajun

does a cop need probable cause to pull over someone? or can he pull people over at just cause he wants too?

The standard in the US for making a stop, (vehicle or otherwise) is that you must have "reasonable suspicion" (RS) that a person has or may have committed a crime. *This rule came from the US Supreme Court in "Terry v Ohio".


An example of "RS" would be that a cop see's a person behind a building downtown at 3 am. *He can detain the person to see what he is doing because it is "reasonable" to believe a person behind a building at 3 am may be getting ready to or may have committed a crime (breaking and entering for example). *Now if the cop stops the person and he finds that he is carrying a bag full of loot and has a prybar, now there is "probable cause" to arrest the person.

If the person had IDed himself as the cleaning person for the business who was on a smoke break, and it proved to be so, then the "RS" goes away and the person may no longer be detained.

To make a charge or to arrest, the officer must have "probable cause".

However, some cops who are charged with enforceing certain laws such as Federal Commercial Motor Vehicle laws, or boating laws, are allowed to stop people at random. There will be specific statutes spelling out exactly what type of vehicles they can stop without RS.

Hope this helps.