JUSTICES LIMIT SEARCHES BY POLICE IN TRAFFIC STOPS

The Supreme Court last week broke with its recent trend of giving police
greater leeway to conduct searches and seizures.

In a unanimous vote, the justices ruled that officers do not have the
constitutional right to make complete searches of motorists and vehicles
stopped for traffic citations.

Its ruling invalidated the conviction of Patrick Knowles, a worker in a
plastics plant in Iowa, who had been given a speeding ticket in 1996. The
officer searched Knowles' car and found a bag of marijuana and a "pot pipe"
under the driver's seat. Knowles was convicted of marijuana offenses and
sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Under a unique Iowa law, officers can either issue a citation or make an
arrest for traffic violations and can conduct a full search in either case.

The Supreme Court had ruled 25 years ago that, because of the need to
disarm suspects and preserve evidence, making full searches during an
arrest are allowed.

But, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist explained for the court, "The
threat to officer safety from issuing a traffic citation is a good deal
less than in the case of[an]arrest."

The decision disappointed the National Association of Police Organizations,
representing 220,000 law-enforcement officers, which argued that traffic
stops are inherently risky for police.

The group cited FBI statistics showing that 4,333 officers were assaulted
with weapons, and 90 were killed, during traffic stops and pursuits from
1987 through 1996.

- -- Aaron Epstein, in Washington

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski