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Officers came to a house in a high crime area and rousted people coming out; they had reasonable suspicion as to defendant

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officers hung outside a house that the neighbors were complaining about because of crime and too many people congregating there. They encountered the defendant outside and asked for his identification, and he backed up. Defendant's furtive movements gave reasonable suspicion for a patdown. State v. Green, 2008 Iowa App. LEXIS 170 (March 14, 2008): Further, the officers here were aware this was a high-crime area because they had received many complaints from the neighbors regarding drug dealing activity, dog fighting, drinking, and general disorderly conduct. In addition to these general complaints, there had been approximately three calls where police actually had to go to the address in question on formal complaints. Although an "individual's presence in an area of expected criminal activity, standing alone, is not enough to support a reasonable, particularized suspicion that the person is committing a crime", "the fact that the stop occurred in a 'high crime area' [is] among the relevant contextual considerations in a Terry analysis...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 16, 2008 (boomark / email).