Unjustified Traffic Stops: A Breach of Civil Rights

1125 Words3 Pages

It is especially prominent when a police officer pulls someone over for someone that is not even against the law, which leaves the citizens confused one what they did wrong. If the officer can not prove that what they pulled them over for was against the law, then they should let the people go immediately. Sadly, the police officer did find something, “a bag of cocaine” (Iannacci). This is the worst part, because a lot of the times the officers end up finding something and the way they found it is never taken into consideration. The officer pulled these people over for a broken tail light, which in the state of North Carolina, is okay as long as one is working. What is not mentioned is that “In the absence of any other facts indicating criminal …show more content…

First, there are many ways that people can be discriminated for example, their physical appearance, the appearance of their car, the way they talk. These are just some examples of reasons why police officers will pull someone aside or assume that they are up to something and investigate the matter. Is someone who is dressed in a hoodie and baggy jeans walking on the street late at night reason enough for an officer to do a stop and frisk? Many would answer that as no and claim that it is discrimination, which it is. Police even admit that “they go to the areas that are heavily populated by Latin Americans and African Americans because they know those areas will have the higher crime rate,” (Branch). Some times the definition of probable cause can be a little iffy when it comes to understanding exactly what a situation of probable cause is. The things that you can do if you were that person in a hoodie being pulled to the side by a police officer with an automatic frisk would be to deny them the right to search you without a warrant, ask them for a specific reason as to why they feel that they need to search you. A police officer must state to the reason as to why they are searching while possessing a probable cause that they have committed a crime. If none of this is done, then the police officer has violated the fourth amendment and should lose their badge or should be put back into the academy to go through the standards of being a police officer once again. If an officer does not understand the rules and limits of his job then he does not deserve to have power to be able to put someone behind

Open Document