What is required for an officer to frisk a person?

Consent or reason to perform a search for the safety of others, the officer must be the same Gender of the individual they are searching, such as a male officer cannot search a female.

Purpose

It is the policy of the Madison Police Department (MPD) that field interrogations will be conducted in a manner

which not only promotes public safety and safeguards law enforcement officers from harm, but also holds

invasions of personal rights and privacy to a minimum.

Procedure

STOPS

A “stop” is the temporary detention of a person for investigation. A “stop” occurs whenever an officer uses their

authority to make a person halt, or to keep a person in a certain place, or to compel a person to perform some

act. If a person is under a reasonable impression that they are not free to leave or ignore the officer’s

presence, a “stop” has occurred