MARYLAND — The Appellate Court of Maryland has ruled that police officers must have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity — not just that someone may be armed — to justify stopping and searching a person, a decision that could impact police stops statewide.
The ruling stems from a Baltimore case where officers stopped a man after spotting what appeared to be a handgun.
Dorchester County Sheriff James Phillips says the decision places handcuffs on law enforcement and will make officers' jobs more dangerous.
"I'm all for people that have, [are] carrying the guns legally. I'm all for that. I think that's a great thing to happen. But we've got a lot of the people that shouldn't have guns running around with them too, and it just creates another problem for us to address that situation," Phillips said.
Phillips says police will now have to be more cautious when approaching people.
"It's ridiculous. Now we can't use that as a primary reason to search somebody to pat them down. I mean they're just throwing roadblocks up every time they change these laws," Phillips said.
Wicomico County NAACP Branch President Monica Brooks applauds the ruling.
"We see it as one less tool in the arsenal that's utilized for racial profiling purposes," Brooks said.
Brooks said that while Black people make up 13% of the population, they account for 43% of police stops.
Brooks also said the ruling sends a clear message — spotting a potential bulge and assuming someone is armed is not grounds for a stop, and those assumptions, she says, are often made based on skin color.
"This law is a win not just for people of color, but for any resident throughout the state of Maryland. What this is doing is saying just because you may potentially be carrying a weapon — and again, this is a may — the assumption if they see a bulge and they assume that someone may be carrying a weapon, that does not make them a criminal," Brooks said.
She added that the ruling may help build trust between law enforcement and communities of color.
Brooks said that officer safety remains a priority — but says split-second decisions cannot be based on race.
