Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Yes, any time an officer is engaged with a citizen for any reason, he has a right to perform a brief "officer safety" search to look for weapons if he feels that he safety is potentially in question, and has a right to temporarily detain the person in order to accomplish this. This search can often include areas of a vehicle within reach of the person stopped. If contraband is located in this search and the officer had any reason to suspect the person in the first place, it could still be used in evidence against the person. This question is the most frequent grounds for challenging searches and the most likely one where a defendant can succeed in actually obtaining a court order suppressing evidence; i.e., the reasonableness of the original suspicion which caused him to first question the person, regardless of whether he is stopped on the street or in a vehicle. Here, if another officer asked that you be detained, then this inquiry would focus on what information the other officer had for requesting your detention, i.e. the "collective knowledge" of the police agency. However, even getting to that point requires complex technical compliance with many procedural rules, requiring the services of an attorney in order to have much chance of success. If there are doubts in your case, or any time that you are facing a serious criminal charge, you therefore owe it to yourself to schedule a consultation with an experienced criminal lawyer. My answer does not automatically make me your attorney, so you need to consult with your own attorney before acting upon any of my comments and may contact my office at 333 Main St, Racine, WI 53403, 262-633-3090, during business hours, or see me on the web at www.jayknixonlaw.com. Also see over 15 years of my previous answers to consumer questions at http://www.lawguru.com/answers/atty_profile/view_attorney_profile/jknixonAttorney answers may contain advertising materials.