Question

A man walking down the street appears to have an illegal weapon. What can a police officer do?

The officer must immediately go before a judge to obtain a search warrant.
With reasonable cause, the officer can stop this individual and frisk him.
With reasonable cause, the officer can arrest the individual without reading the Miranda warning.
Nothing. The officer cannot stop anyone based on appearance alone.

Answers

GPT-4o mini
In this situation, the correct course of action for a police officer would be:

**With reasonable cause, the officer can stop this individual and frisk him.**

This is based on the "stop and frisk" principle established in the legal precedent of Terry v. Ohio, which allows officers to stop a person if they have reasonable suspicion that the person is involved in criminal activity and may be armed and dangerous. The officer does not need a search warrant in this situation, and they can perform a limited frisk for weapons if they believe the person may be armed. However, if the officer places the individual under arrest, they are required to inform the individual of their rights under Miranda at that point.