{"id":7514,"date":"2023-10-27T15:31:06","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T15:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portal.bluetogold.com\/?p=7514"},"modified":"2026-09-17T06:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:40:13","slug":"manipulation-rule-relaxed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portal.bluetogold.com\/?p=7514","title":{"rendered":"Manipulation Rule Relaxed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This question comes from an officer in Florida. And he asks,\u00a0 \u201cHave courts relaxed the manipulation rule under Terry patdowns<\/a>?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 What the officer\u2019s talking about here is a case that’s called Minnesota versus Dickerson, US Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Basically what happened there was that officers patted down Dickerson and they felt an item in his pocket during the patdown. \u00a0 They described the patdown and what they’re feeling.\u00a0 They described it as manipulating it, feeling it, pinching it, squeezing it, to basically determine whether or not it was drugs.\u00a0 And they felt that it was a rock-like substance.<\/p>\n

That was combined with all the other circumstances why the stop was made in the first place, because they thought that drug activity was occurring.\u00a0 The cops knew that it was what it was, potentially rock cocaine, or at least they had probable cause<\/a>.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t they want to know it? They had probable cause and they removed it.\u00a0 Sure enough, they’re correct.<\/p>\n

And we’re going to the US Supreme Court.\u00a0 The US Supreme Court held that in that case, it was right.\u00a0 The cops manipulation of the item failed to satisfy the plain feel doctrine, or the plain touch doctrine, whatever you want to call it.\u00a0 But they did say that if while patting somebody down, an officer feels an item that is immediately apparent as contraband, evidence, fruits or instrumentalities of a crime and so forth, that they could go into the pocket and seize it.<\/p>\n

Are courts still strict about manipulating an item during a frisk?<\/h2>\n

Now, back to the original question, the officer is asking,\u00a0 \u201cHave courts relaxed this rule?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 And the answer is, \u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong> They’re very strict on it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A cop goes to court, and is asked, \u201cAt the time that you felt this item in the pocket, did you believe that it was a weapon or something that could hurt you?\u201d<\/p>\n

And then the officer says, \u201cNo, I knew at that point, that it was not something that could hurt me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u00a0 But did you continue to feel the item?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now describe how you felt that item and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I felt that I put my hand on it, you know, I pinched it, I squeezed it. And then I realized that it was marijuana, cocaine, you know, or some kind of criminal evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that point, the evidence is likely to be suppressed because the cop is admitting to the court that at the point of manipulation, he knows it’s not a weapon.\u00a0 He suspected it of being contraband, and that’s manipulation.<\/p>\n

Can you keep feeling an item if you are not sure it is a weapon?<\/h2>\n

Now, let me just share my little best practice here.\u00a0 Courts will give you some wiggle room, when you are feeling an item that you’re not sure is a weapon.\u00a0 They will <\/em>allow you to manipulate that item <\/em>to make sure it’s not a weapon.<\/p>\n

For example, there’s a case where a cop felt a rolled up bag.\u00a0 It was like a paper bag or something like that.\u00a0 It was kind of solid, and he wasn’t sure if there were razor blades in there or some kind of blunt object.\u00a0 So he took the bag out and was determining whether or not there was some kind of weapon in there.\u00a0 And he found drugs instead.\u00a0 The court actually upheld that, because he testified that he was still concerned about a weapon.\u00a0 He wasn’t sure.<\/p>\n

But you see, in Dickerson, the cop knows it’s not a weapon and is still continuing the manipulation.\u00a0 So if you are unsure if it’s a weapon or not, courts will give you some leeway.<\/p>\n

If you know it’s not a weapon, then you have\u00a0 to move on.\u00a0 Or if it’s immediately apparent to you as contraband, then you can recover it.<\/p>\n

Does immediately apparent mean you have to be certain it is contraband?<\/h2>\n

Now, a couple things about this.\u00a0 Remember; immediately apparent is only probable cause, it’s not certainty.\u00a0 I have patted people down, thought that there was a pipe in their pocket, pulled it out and found that it was a lighter or something else.\u00a0 That’s okay.\u00a0 I did not violate the Constitution, because I had a fair probability based off the tiny circumstances that what I was feeling was paraphernalia.\u00a0 Most of the time, I was right.\u00a0 Sometimes I was wrong.<\/p>\n

What else counts toward probable cause besides what you feel?<\/h2>\n

The other thing is don’t forget the totality of the circumstances.\u00a0 Don’t forget that the reason why you detained this person comes into play if you believed that he was involved in narcotics.\u00a0 Don’t forget that if he appears to be an active drug user, or has a recent drug history, leaves a known drug house, is abnormally nervous, deceptive, evasive; that those things also contribute to probable cause.\u00a0 It’s not solely based on what you feel at that particular time.\u00a0 Does that make sense?<\/p>\n

It’s important because a lot of cops will just talk about how the item felt, but they leave out all this other stuff.\u00a0 They thought they maybe saw a hand to hand transaction, it’s a high drug\u00a0 neighborhood, they know this guy from previous encounters, and so on.\u00a0 And I’m thinking to myself, that is part of the probable cause, right?\u00a0 So throw that in there!<\/p>\n

Do you guys like what I’m doing?\u00a0 I’m doing these free YouTube videos and I do webinars every single week that are free to help train cops.\u00a0 That’s my mission in life.\u00a0 Please help me do that. Alright, until next time, my friends stay safe.<\/p>\n

Related from Blue to Gold<\/h2>\n