A Terry stop is another name for stop and frisk; the name came from the U.S Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio. The Court in Terry held that a stop-and-frisk must comply with the Fourth Amendment, meaning that the stop-and-frisk cannot be unreasonable. According to the Terry Court, a reasonable stop-and-frisk is one "in which a reasonably prudent officer is warranted in the circumstances of a given case in believing that his safety or that of others is endangered, he may make a reasonable search for weapons of the person believed by him to be armed and dangerous." Stop-and-frisks fall under criminal law, as opposed to civil law.
When a police officer has a reasonable suspicion that an individual is armed, engaged in, or about to be engaged in criminal conduct, the officer may briefly stop and detain an individual for a pat-down search of outer clothing.
In a traffic stop setting, the Terry condition of a lawful investigatory stop is met whenever it is lawful for the police to detain an automobile and its occupants pending inquiry into a vehicular violation. The police do not need to believe that any occupant of the vehicle is involved in criminal activity. The reasonable suspicion of criminal activities discovered during the traffic stop may give rise to a Terry stop.
In a recent case, Floyd v. City of New York 813 F. Supp.2d 417 (2011), the Court held the New York stop-and-frisk policy violated the Fourth Amendment because it rendered stop and frisks more frequent for Black and Hispanic individuals.
Relevant reading: Terry v. Ohio; United States Department of Justice Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department.
[Last updated in June of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]