Our Bill of Rights is dead, "Police stop, handcuff every adult at intersection in search for bank robber.'
Innocent bystanders handcuffed at the intersection of Iliff and Buckley (credit: CBS)
Police in Aurora, Colo., searching for suspected bank robbers stopped every car at an intersection, handcuffed all the adults and searched the cars, one of which they believed was carrying the suspect.
Police said they had received what they called a “reliable” tip that the culprit in an armed robbery at a Wells Fargo bank committed earlier was stopped at the red light.
“We didn’t have a description, didn’t know race or gender or anything, so a split-second decision was made to stop all the cars at that intersection, and search for the armed robber,” Aurora police Officer Frank Fania told ABC News.
Officers barricaded the area, halting 19 cars.
“Cops came in from every direction and just threw their car in front of my car,” Sonya Romero, one of the drivers who was handcuffed, told ABC News affiliate KMGH-TV in Denver.
From there, the police went from car to car, removing the passengers and handcuffing the adults.
“Most of the adults were handcuffed, then were told what was going on and were asked for permission to search the car,” Fania said. “They all granted permission, and once nothing was found in their cars, they were un-handcuffed.”
The search lasted between an hour and a half and two hours, and it wasn’t until the final car was searched that police apprehended the suspect.
“Once officers got to his car, they found evidence that he was who they were looking for,” Fania said. “When they searched the car, they found two loaded firearms.”
The actions of the police have been met with some criticism, but Fania said this was a unique situation that required an unusual response.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/06/police-stop-handcuff-every-adult-at-intersection-in-search-for-bank-robber/
Police searching for bank robber stop all cars...
The Volokh Conspiracy:
The police stopped 19 cars, handcuffed all the adult drivers and passengers, asked them “for permission to search the car,” and then searched the cars once they all “granted permission.” Once nothing was found in each car, the drivers and passengers of the car were unhandcuffed, but apparently some were handcuffed for over an hour and a half, since that’s how long the search lasted. Eventually, when they searched the last car, they found the suspect and let everyone else leave.
I’m not a Fourth Amendment expert, but I’m pretty sure this is unconstitutional. Handcuffing someone generally requires probable cause to believe that they are guilty of a crime, or — in the context of a brief investigative stop — “particularized suspicion” to believe that the person is dangerous to the investigators. (See, e.g., Manzanares v. Higdon (10th Cir. 2009).) The mere fact that someone is present at the place where a criminal may be present can’t provide such probable cause. As the Court held in Ybarra v. Illinois (1979)
What is true for a search pursuant to a warrant is likewise true for warrantless seizures, such as the ones that occurred here. And even if the 5% chance that any particular driver was an armed and dangerous bank robber (1/19, even assuming that the tip was seen as having a 100% chance of being accurate) sufficed to provide enough “individualized suspicion” for a brief investigatory stop — perhaps, depending on the circumstances, including a patdown for weapons — I don’t think it would justify keeping all the innocent people handcuffed for an hour and a half.
It therefore sounds to me like the police might be facing 19 lawsuits (one in which the jury might not be that sympathetic to the plaintiff, and 18 in which they will likely be much more sympathetic), as well as one likely pretty solid suppression-of-evidence motion. I should hope that the police department and its elected superiors will also face some political blowback. Protecting the public from armed bank robbers is certainly very important; but handcuffing dozens of innocent people — in a situation where it was certain that the great bulk of the people were indeed innocent — for over an hour as part of this sort of blanket seizure strikes me as much too high a price to pay for this sort of law enforcement.
http://volokh.com/2012/06/05/police-searching-for-bank-robber-stop-all-cars-at-intersection-handcuff-drivers-search-cars/
"Even in a gray world, Aurora cops must abide by unreasonable search and seizure laws."
In fact, police were so professional and accommodating, that many people are overlooking the most galling point here: that police essentially stopped and rounded up about 40 people in 20 cars on an unremarkable public street in hopes of finding a crook, and they handcuffed a bunch of innocent people.
It’s chilling. Not so much that they did it, but that police officials believed they could. That they should. That they might do it again. Because there are so many compelling and dramatic issues here, and because it’s clear, at least to me, that police acted in good faith, it’s easy to overlook the big picture. We cannot, under any circumstances, allow the police or military to round people up, detain and handcuff them, unless cops have a valid and compelling reason to suspect they’ve committed a crime. This kind of policing is what the Fourth Amendment was created to prevent. By law, we prohibit police from stopping groups or individuals unless they’re suspected of committing a crime.
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/opinion/perry-even-in-a-gray-world-aurora-cops-must-abide-by-unreasonable-search-and-seizure-laws/
10 Signs that the highways are being transformed into a high tech prison grid.
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/06/10-signs-that-highways-of-america-are.html