What are your privacy rights as a pedestrian? What are police allowed to do when you are simply walking down the street, sitting on a barstool or riding on a bus? What if you’re not doing anything wrong? What if you are merely suspected of doing something wrong? What if you just look like you might be doing something wrong (i.e. you haven’t washed your dreadlocks in the last 3 years and the hem on your pants is tattered)? These are the situations where you can best protect your rights.

Absent an outright arrest, let’s take a look at each “pedestrian” contact with police and the officer’s right to detain you and search your “person” as a result of that contact. As you might expect, these pedestrian contacts will be separated into Consent, Reasonable Suspicion and Probable Cause. Depending upon the situation you are in, your rights and the police officer’s conduct are different.

A) Consent

If you are “on foot” in a public place, the Supreme Court says the police may approach you and engage you in conversation. As you will see, the term “on foot” is used broadly, but as a general rule, the police may not stop or detain someone in a moving vehicle for no reason, which will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 2. However, in most other instances, the police can walk up to you on the street or in the mall or sitting in a parked car and ask you questions. Without reasonable suspicion they cannot demand that you do anything; but questions will often come in a manner that may lead you to believe you have no choice. In such situations, the police may ask for consent to a search your person or belongings, even if they don’t suspect you of doing anything wrong. Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429 (1991). They are not required to tell you that you have a right to refuse, unless of course, you ask.

Let’s look at some of the facts from the Florida v. Bostick case. Mr. Bostick was seated on a bus from Miami bound for Atlanta... (click here to read more)