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Originally Posted by Woodsy
The MP can no longer stop you for a "Safety Inspection" like they used to. The NH Supreme Court ruled that they needed "Probable Cause" to stop you. The same standard that applies to police officers statewide.
Woodsy
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Actually what a law enforcement officer needs to stop & temporarily detain is known in the trade as
articulable suspicion.
Probable cause, a much higher standard, is what an LEO needs to effect an arrest or request a warrant.
To some it may appear to be a play on words, but when it comes to your constitutional rights the difference between the two standards is immeasurable!
What the courts maintain is that an officer must have
articulable suspicion that an offense has occured in order to stop and temporarily detain you. After you have been detained (or otherwise investigated) using the articulable suspicion standard, the officer may develop more facts & circumstances that lead him to the
probable cause necessary to effect a warrant or arrest.
That is why the examples given in an earlier post of an MP asking you "
what length is your boat" or "
do you have a tape measure" are not examples of the borderline infringement of your fifth ammendment rights. There are a number of US Supreme Court and lower court opinions that have examined these very same examples and found the asking of such questions during a articulable suspicion or "Terry" type stop do not violate the offender's right's.
Hope this clears it up a little....needless to say you are always walking a very thin (blue) line when dealing with the public as a law enforcement official!
Merry Christmas!
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