Summary Of Another Country By David Shipler

In his chapter “Another Country”, David Shipler writes about his belief that the Fourth Amendment rights of American citizens are being infringed upon by the modern day police force. He explains how, through the years, various court cases have changed the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment, giving police the power to justify questionable methods regarding the searches of individuals, their vehicles, and other personal belongings. Shipler uses examples of firsthand experience working with policemen who specifically abused these changes in order to conduct such questionable searches. These examples involved the “frisking” of individuals as well as the stopping and searching of individuals’ vehicles without their direct consent. Shipler also

He explains how these cases affected the amendment specifically and also how this in turn affected police work. An example of one such case Shipler describes is Terry v. Ohio. He defines this case as being the first to alter the Fourth Amendment’s meaning, stating that it “loosened the amendment’s strict requirements” regarding police searches and allowed for policemen to conduct warrantless searches of an individuals’ person. According to Shipler, the details of the case involved a police officer who had searched three people based on their suspicious behavior and his belief that they “might be armed.” Once searched, the officer had found two guns and, as Shipler continues, the searches were deemed legitimate. He goes on to explain how this one incident involving an officer’s hunch allowed for policemen to use the term “reasonable suspicion” as a justification for frisking other persons suspected of carrying weapons rather than the more concrete “probable cause.” This change to what constituted grounds for a police search consequently gave officers the power to deem their own personal interpretation of the

He explains that because most people don’t understand their right to refuse, policeman can easily gain consent to searches with the correct mixture of intimidation and prodding. Shipler refers to a conversation he had with a Sergeant J. J. Brennan concerning his work in Union Station to catch drug couriers and how most people who allowed him access into their belongings believed he had some sort of right to. Also, Shipler’s experience with Sergeant Neill included many instances where people who were guilty still let Neill and his men search their vehicle. He explains that most people believed they had no choice in the matter. Shipler states that this general lack of knowledge is due in part to the fact that a citizen’s Fourth Amendment rights do not have to be given to them prior to a police search. He exclaims that the allowance for such negligence mixed with the proper officer intimidation is an abuse of a person’s Fourth Amendment rights. In other words, Shipler poses the question of how a police search can be justified by consent if the person didn’t know of their right to refuse. Shipler also describes other techniques utilized by Sergeant Neill in