12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You

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As of recent statistics, there are over 800,000 sworn officers in the United States, serving in various capacities across federal, state, and local agencies. The role of the police is complex and multifaceted, encompassing community engagement, investigation, and emergency response. Cops wield undeniable power and authority.

Yet, with great power comes great responsibility—and controversy. Despite the critical function they serve, the relationship between law enforcement and the public can often be strained, highlighted by ongoing debates over police accountability, use of force, and systemic bias. There are numerous actions that cops can legally take—and not all of them may sit comfortably with our notions of personal freedom and privacy.

Investigate Abandoned Belongings

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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In principle, police can search abandoned property without a warrant. This is because, once something is left in a public place, there is no legitimate guarantee of privacy.

If, for example, someone left a bag at a bus stop by mistake, police would consider it a lost object and legally can search it. Such searches, according to a report in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, fall within Fourth Amendment exceptions.

Lie About Evidence During Interrogations

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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Faking evidence under questioning is one of the most fraught legal maneuvers used by police in the United States. Purveyors say that the mistracking of suspects could yield confessions not otherwise obtained.

According to critics, this can make for false confessions and wrong convictions. Innocent Project has found that the police can elicit false confessions by coercing people into it and fraudulently concealing evidence.

Stop You Without Immediate Explanation

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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This practice is controversial due to questions of civil rights and racial profiling. Immediate stops make people jumbled and scared, which leads to distrust between police and citizens.

These techniques have been widely controversial – with supporters insisting that they’re necessary to identify threats quickly.

Use Force for Compliance

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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Force may be called for in the event of emergency and to defend the community, but when it is used it can lead to debates about just how much force should be used. We know from cases such as George Floyd’s death how such experiences can spiral out of control, and public outrage ensues.

According to the National Library of Medicine, African Americans have a higher likelihood of being attacked by police than White Americans.

Perform “Stop and Frisk” searches.

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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This is a controversial practice based on concerns about racial profiling and civil liberties. Proponents say “Stop and Frisk” disproportionately targets minorities and encourages unwarranted police activity.

As noted by Harvard University Press, the NYPD stopped people 685,724 times in 2011, with 87 percent of those stopped Black or Latino.

Stringently Enforce Minor Offenses

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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This policy is premised on the idea that penalties for smaller offences stop larger offences. Others contend it encourages excessive policing in low-income areas that recurs into bigger judicial problems.

The national legislatures rolled out these policies in the 1990s as a way of countering growing school violence, ScholarWorks reports.

Profiling Based on Race or Attire

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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Such profiling is often discriminatory and almost always on the basis of stereotypes rather than facts. The practice can mean that communities of color are over-targeted by police, which is unwelcoming and frightening.

As Tufts University cited, African Americans are 3.3 times more likely than Whites to say they have been unfairly stopped by the police.

Monitoring Political Activists

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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Among the main problems with this practice is the potential infringement of activists’ First Amendment rights. It typically involves invasive measures, such as stalking social media accounts, messages, and public meetings.

Six in 10 Americans (63%) say they know next to nothing about privacy laws and regulations, according to Pew Research Center.

Civil Asset Forfeiture

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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This practice is incredibly divisive as it usually has grave implications for property rights and abuse. Some people object that it could cause innocent people to lose their property without a trial.

The US Department of Justice has dispensed more than $4.5 billion worth of forfeited property among 8,000 state and local police, according to the agency.

Unannounced Raids

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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This is a hated police practice that involves breaking into homes without warning. The arguments are that such raids eviscerate the right to civil liberties, put more innocent civilians at risk, and produce fatal mistakes.

About 20,000-80,000 no-knock warrants are issued nationwide every year, according to the Center for Justice Research.

Militarized Policing

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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It’s the police deployment of military weapons and strategies. Armored cars, assault weapons, and tactical clothing deployed in demonstrations, for instance, may terrorize citizens and provoke clashes.

The Ferguson riots of 2014, in which heavily armed police confronted demonstrators, received wide condemnation.

Surveillance Technologies

12 Controversial Things Cops Can Legally Do To You
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With these technologies, including GPS tracking and phone data extraction, police can watch where people are going in a very large degree. Use of such technologies can result in excessive and intrusive surveillance practices that violate privacy rights.

Facial recognition systems misidentified Black and Asian faces 10 to 100 times more often than white ones, Regulatory Review estimates. The technologies also misidentified women more than men.

DisclaimerThis list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.

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