4th AMENDMENT
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James Joyner | Tuesday, July 15, 2003 |
Kristopher links a bizarre story about what appear to be heavy-handed police tactics at a Montgomery, Alabama shopping mall. The story is poorly written and there may be some important facts missing.
I’m not sure how a mall can give permission to the police to search people who are trying to leave and aren’t under reasonable suspicion of a crime by specific persons. And the fact that the police issued some citations as a result of the operation doesn’t justify it in my mind.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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I would be curious as how this was justified. Heck, despite court rulings to the contrary, traffic stops are patently a violation of the fourth amendment. This apparently goes way beyond that but it is probably to late to hope for any better when a conservative southern state such as Alabama allows such foolishness to go on. If, as according to the article cited, there was a problem with disturbances, then a police presence was justifiable, but a presence is a long ways away from "blocked off exits to the parking lot and set[ting] up checkpoints."
The story is poorly written because it was based on a television account of what happened. The facts are still fairly sketchy at this point. What I'm curious about is what crime resulted in the tickets? For what were they cited?
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