Jacksonville Criminal Attorney Blog

If the police turn their blue lights on, the common citizen would think they were being pulled over. They would believe they were not free to leave. The Florida Supreme Court agrees.

There was a case just decided in Florida and the Florida Supreme Court ruled that flashing police lights detains the person they are aimed at. Our constitution does not allow the police to detain anyone unless they have reasonable suspicion that the person is breaking a law. If the police flash their lights at you for no reason and they eventually find drugs in your car because of the stop, a Jacksonville criminal defense lawyer could move the court to suppress the drugs because the police did not have the right to pull you over in the first place.

In my experience as a criminal attorney in Jacksonville, if the police flash their lights and you pull over abruptly, the police consider that to be a sign of impairment. If you pull over too slow, JSO thinks you are fleeing or eluding them or resisting without violence. No matter what the circumstances, if a marked police car flashed their lights at you, you are not free to go about your business.

In order to search your home in most cases, the police must have a signed warrant. One exception to the warrant requirement is exigent circumstances. If the police entered your home under this circumstance without a warrant, a Jacksonville Criminal Attorney can move to suppress anything found in the home if the reasons for the search were not exigent.

The prosecutor must show a "grave emergency" that makes the search necessary for the safety of the community and police. The warrantless entry must be considered imperative, showing a compelling need to enter with no time to get a warrant. Safety must be threatened and time is of the essence.

As Jacksonville Criminal Attorneys, we are often asked, when can a police officer search someone's body, also known as a "pat down". If the police officer has reasonable suspicion that you are committing, just committed, or going to commit a crime in Jacksonville, he can most likely detain you. Once you are detained, not free to leave, the officer can search you for officer safety.

If the police officer pats you down and feels what resembles contraband, such as a gun or a bag of drugs, the officer can then reach in your pocket and pull the item out. If the officer does not immediately recognize the item in your pocket, he cannot extract the item to "discover" what it is. In Florida, this is called the "plain feel" doctrine and it addresses the ability of the police to take non-threatening items detected during a search.