In Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325 (1990), referred to by Doherty J.A. in Golub, the court defined the contours of the protective sweep power of the police: (1) A search of a house is generally not reasonable without a warrant to search based upon probable cause. (p. 331) (2) Incidental to a lawful arrest, “as a precautionary matter and without probable cause or reasonable suspicion”, arresting officers may search “spaces immediately adjoining the place of arrest from which an attack could be immediately launched”. (p. 334) (3) Beyond that, the Fourth Amendment would permit a protective sweep of a broader area only if the police possess a reasonable belief based on specific and articulable facts which, taken together with the rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warranted the belief that the area swept harboured an individual posing a danger to the officer or others. (pp. 327, 333-4) (4) “A “protective sweep” is a quick and limited search of premises, incident to an arrest and conducted to protect the safety of police officers or others. It is narrowly confined to a cursory visual inspection of those places in which a person might be hiding”. (pp. 327, 335) (5) Reasonable, “individualized suspicion” is an essential feature of a legitimate protective sweep. There must be a level of “objective justification” arising from the particular circumstances in each case – “it is decidedly not “automatic”, but may be conducted only when justified by a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the house is harbouring a person posing a danger to those on the arrest scene”. (pp. 334-6) additional American jurisprudence
"The most advanced legal research software ever built."
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.