Citizen
Founder's Club Member
The other thing....
it doesn't appear there was allegation that the OP actually violated a law.
"prowling" may be a suspicious activity, but unless he's prowling on their private property it's not a crime... even then second degree trespass is only a misdemeanor and it's unlikely one would go to jail for a first time misdemeanor....
so not only was it a bad detention, it wasn't even a detention on nessecarily violating the law...
No, no, no.
Police need leeway to do the job the public expects.
And, Terry doctrine makes it clear police can evaluate situations in light of their experience with criminals.
So, under a certain poster's recent rationale, this was a valid stop because police need leeway. And, since prowling is the early stage of burglary, breaking into cars, and stealing lawn clippings, this was clearly both a legal stop and a stop for which the cops had valid suspicion of crime.*
/sarcasm
*Actually, since cops seem always on the prowl, the suspected offense was probably impersonating a police officer. / more sarcasm