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STOPPING A SUSPECT
• When does a stop or seizure occur?
• A stop occurs when an officer uses his or her authority to limit a person’s freedom
of movement
• Factors that a judge will consider when determining whether a person has
been stopped or seized
• Orders to “stop”, “freeze”, or “come over here”
• Statement of “You’re under arrest” v. “I am placing you in handcuffs for your safety
and mine, you are not under arrest”
• Emergency lights and/or sirens
• Hands on the suspect
• Handcuffs
• OC spray
• Gun drawn
• Placed in the back of a squad car
• Taken to the police station
• Taken to jail
• Note – the more dangerous the situation, the more the police can use force or
restraints without there being an arrest.
• WARRANT
• Physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth
Amendment is directed . . . At the very core of the Fourth Amendment stands the
right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable
governmental intrusions . . . The Fourth Amendment has drawn a firm line at the
entrance to the house . . . Absent exigent circumstances [or consent], that
threshold may not reasonable be crossed without a warrant. State v. Phillips, 209
Wis. 2d 559 (Ct. App. 1997).
• “Entry” is defined very strictly by the courts.
• Examples of entry
• An officer’s step into the threshold of a doorway in order to prevent the door
from closing
• Reaching into a window frame to move a drape in order to confirm there is a
gun on the bed