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(2002). Both of these cases shed light on when person would feel free to decline the officers’
questioning a bus passenger may constitute an requests or otherwise terminate the encounter.”
unconstitutional seizure. The Court explained that “no seizure occurs when
The Supreme Court in Bostick evaluated a situation police ask questions of an individual, ask to
where uniformed police officers boarded a bus, examine the individual’s identification, and request
questioned a defendant (absent suspicion), and then consent to search his or her luggage—so long as
sought the defendant’s consent to search his the officers do not convey a message that
luggage. compliance with their requests is required.” As the
The Court began its analysis by clarifying that “a Court noted, “the mere fact that [the respondent]
seizure does not occur simply because a police officer did not feel free to leave the bus does not mean that
approaches an individual and asks a few questions.” the police seized him.” The Court understood that
Instead, an encounter is “consensual” so long as the
the respondent’s movements were confined
civilian would feel free to either terminate the encounter because he was on a bus. But it concluded that
or disregard the questioning. The police do not need “this was the natural result of his decision to take
reasonable suspicion to approach someone for
the bus; it says nothing about whether or not the
questioning. And “[t]he encounter will not trigger
police conduct at issue was coercive.”
Fourth Amendment scrutiny unless it loses its
consensual nature.” The Drayton Court evaluated whether police
6 Wise also asserts that the police lacked reasonable officers who boarded a Greyhound and questioned
suspicion to question him during the bus encounter. certain passengers had unconstitutionally seized the
However, the police did not need any suspicion to passengers whom they questioned. During a
question him in the manner they did. See Drayton, 536 scheduled stop, police boarded a Greyhound bus as
U.S. at 201 (“Even when law enforcement officers have part of a routine drug and weapons interdiction
no basis for suspecting a particular individual, they may effort. “The officers were dressed in plain clothes
pose questions, ask for identification, and request
and carried concealed weapons and visible
consent to search luggage—provided they do not induce
badges.” Three officers boarded the bus. One
cooperation by coercive means.”) (citation omitted).
officer kneeled on the driver’s seat and faced the
The respondent in Bostick argued that questioning
passengers, so he could monitor them. Another
that occurs “in the cramped confines of a bus” is
officer stationed himself in the rear of the bus. A
“much more intimidating” because “police tower
third officer walked down the aisle, questioning
over a seated passenger and there is little room to
passengers. While questioning passengers, the
move around.” Under those conditions, “a
officer avoided blocking the aisle by standing “next
reasonable bus passenger would not have felt free
to or just behind each passenger with whom [the
to leave” while the police were on board and
officer] spoke.” One officer approached two
questioning the passenger “because there is
individuals who were sitting next to one another.
nowhere to go on a bus.” The respondent
The officer showed the individuals his police
successfully persuaded the court below to adopt a
badge. Then, speaking in a conversational tone,
per se rule prohibiting police officers from
he identified himself and asked to search the
randomly boarding buses and questioning
passengers’ luggage. The passengers consented to
passengers as a means of performing drug
the search. After the luggage search, the officer
interdictions. The Supreme Court, however,
asked to search the person of one of the passengers.
disagreed that randomly questioning a bus
The passenger consented. The officer felt hard
passenger constitutes a per se unreasonable seizure.
objects on the passenger’s upper thighs; he believed
The proper inquiry for whether a bus passenger has
these were drug packages. He then arrested the
been seized by police is “whether a reasonable
passenger. A similar process transpired with the
58 www.texaspoliceassociation.com • (512) 458-3140 Texas Police Journal