What if, during the pat-down, the officer feels something which he reasonably believes to be drugs. Can he go in the pocket and remove the item?
A. Yes, provided it is “immediately apparent” to the officer based on his training, education and experience, that the item in the pocket is contraband. In Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366, 373, 113 S.Ct. 2130, 124 L. Ed. 2d 334 (1993), the United States Supreme Court adopted a “plain feel” corollary to the plain view doctrine, and held that if a police officer lawfully pats down a suspect’s outer clothing and feels an object whose contour or mass makes its identity immediately apparent, there has been no invasion of the suspect’s privacy beyond that already authorized by the officer’s search for weapons; if the object is contraband, its warrantless seizure would be justified by the same practical considerations that inhere in the plain-view context. 508 U.S. at 376. The Kansas Supreme Court adopted the plain feel corollary in State v. Wonders, 263 Kan. 582, 952 P.2d 1351 (1998).
Related Questions
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