NCJ Number
97553
Date Published
1985
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This police training video cassette, accompanied by an audio cassette, reenacts the incident that led to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Michigan vs. Long and highlights the principles of that decision.
Abstract
The decision specifies the motives of police in conducting a protective search of an automobile detained in a routine traffic stop. Two patrol officers observed a car, traveling erratically at excessive speed, swerve down a side road, and land in a shallow ditch. Long met the officers at the rear of his car and appeared to be 'under the influence of something.' Long began walking toward the vehicle, but when the officers observed a large hunting knife on the floorboard of the driver's side of the car, they stopped Long and subjected him to a pat-down. One of the officers shined his flashlight into the car to search for other weapons and noticed that something was protruding from under the armrest on the front seat. The officer inspected the pouch and arrested Long for possession of marijuana. The U.S. Supreme Court determined that the circumstances clearly justified the officers in their reasonable belief that Long posed a danger if he were permitted to reenter his vehicle. Further, the Court determined that the leather pouch containing marijuana could have contained a weapon. Thus, the officer's intrusion was 'strictly circumscribed by the exigencies which justified its initiation.' A booklet accompanies the cassettes and provides detailed facts concerning the case and discusses the Supreme Court's decision.