Case Name: STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. THOMAS E. LUND, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT; STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. MICHAEL X. HARRISON, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT
Court: Supreme Court of New Jersey
Jurisdiction: New Jersey
Decision Date: 1990-05-23
Citations: 119 N.J. 35
Docket Number: 
Parties: STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. THOMAS E. LUND, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. MICHAEL X. HARRISON, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
Judges: 
Reporter: New Jersey Reports
Volume: 119
Pages: 35–61

Head Matter:
573 A.2d 1376
STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. THOMAS E. LUND, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. MICHAEL X. HARRISON, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
Argued January 2, 1990
Decided May 23, 1990.
James Michael Merberg, a member of the Massachusetts bar, argued the cause for appellant Thomas E. Lund (Robert S. Eisenberg, attorney).
Lois De Julio, First Assistant Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant Michael X. Harrison (Alfred A. Slocum, Public Defender, attorney; Lois De Julio and James Mayer, Designated Counsel, of counsel and on the briefs).
Janet Flanagan, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent (Peter N. Perretti, Jr., Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney).

Opinion:
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
O'HERN, J.
The Attorney General informs us in his brief:
One study of State Police officers killed nationwide in the line of duty from September 1976 to September 1982, shows that 40 percent of the troopers killed by gunfire were fatally wounded while making traffic stops.
Of such reality, Chief Justice Hughes spoke some years back:
Such continuing trends would make even more relevant today the prophetic warning of the United States Supreme Court in Terry v. Ohio, [392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)] dealing with police exposure and apprehension of harm:
We are now concerned with more than the governmental interest in investigating crime; in addition, there is the more immediate interest of the police officer in taking steps to assure himself that the person with whom he is dealing is not armed with a weapon that could unexpectedly and fatally be used against him. Certainly it would be unreasonable to require that police officers take unnecessary risks in the performance of their duties. [W]e cannot blind ourselves to the need for law enforcement officers to protect themselves and other prospective victims of violence in situations where they may lack probable cause for an arrest. When an officer is justified in believing that the individual whose suspicious behavior he is investigating at close range is armed and presently dangerous to the officer or to others, it would appear to be clearly unreasonable to deny the officer the power to take necessary measures to determine whether the person is in fact carrying a weapon and to neutralize the threat of physical harm. [State ex rel. H.B., 75 N.J. 243, 247, 381 A.2d 759 (1977) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 23-24, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1881, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 907-08 (1968)).]
This case involves an application of the Terry principles in the context of a highway stop of a vehicle during which a police officer discovered drugs in the motorist's car.
I
The principles that guide us are settled:
Certain fundamental propositions bear restatement at the outset. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires the approval of an impartial judicial officer based on probable cause before most searches may be undertaken. E.g., Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 51, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 1981, 26 L.Ed.2d 419, 428, reh. den., 400 U.S. 856, 91 S.Ct. 23, 27 L.Ed.2d 94 (1970). The same holds true for Article 1, paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution. State v. Ercolano, 79 N.J. 25, 41-42 [397 A.2d 1062] (1979), and cases cited therein. The warrant requirement of these provisions may be dispensed with in only a few narrowly circumscribed exceptions. The prima fade invalidity of any warrantless search is overcome only if that search falls within one of the specific exceptions created by the United States Supreme Court. Ercolano, supra, 79 N.J. at 42 [397 A.2d 1062]. Where, as here, the State seeks to validate a warrantless search, it bears the burden of bringing it within one of those exceptions. State v. Sims, 75 N.J. 337, 352 [382 A.2d 638] (1978). [State v. Patino, 83 N.J. 1, 7, 414 A.2d 1327 (1980).]
Because no warrant existed for the search, we must ask under which exception the search may be brought. The problem with this case, as with so many others, is that the search fits neatly into no category, although arguably fitting into several. It partakes of aspects of a "stop," an intrusion less than a search or seizure, as well as a search. Each of these strands of search and seizure law must be considered.
This was not a search incident to an arrest of the recent occupant of an automobile as defined in New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981) (allowing a search of the car's interior as incident to the arrest). Nor was it an automobile exception case, because the officers did not have probable cause to believe the vehicle contained contraband. It has always been recognized that although expectations of privacy in the contents of an automobile are significant, they have never been granted the protection accorded the home. State v. Patino, supra, 83 N.J. at 8, 414 A.2d 1327. Thus, under the automobile exception, police may stop and search a moving vehicle, or one readily movable, when there is probable cause to believe that the vehicle contains criminally-related objects. "The rationale for this exception is grounded in the exigent circumstances created by the inherent mobility of vehicles and the somewhat lessened expectation of privacy in one's vehicle." Id. at 9, 414 A.2d 1327. As a result, an automobile search is justified not by the existence of a warrant but by the circumstances that furnish the officers with probable cause. In State v. Alston, 88 N.J. 211, 440 A.2d 1311 (1981), we stressed the significance of weapons when these are the object of the search because of concern for the safety of the police officers. There we upheld a search of a car that revealed two handguns and a sawed-off shotgun after the police had seen live shotgun shells when shining a flashlight into the open glove compartment.
Another recognized exception to the probable-cause requirement allows the police to "stop and frisk" when a police officer "has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 27, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 909 (1968). In that circumstance, the officer's conduct is judged by "whether a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger." Ibid. 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. at 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d at 909. Chief Justice Warren emphasized that the new exception to probable cause was to be applied only in very limited circumstances. He stated that "[t]he sole justification [for the new standard was] the protection of the police officer and others nearby, and it must therefore be confined in scope to an intrusion reasonably designed to discover guns, knives, clubs, or other hidden instruments for the assault of the police officer." Id. at 29, 88 S.Ct. at 1884, 20 L.Ed.2d at 911.
In Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331 (1977), the Court upheld, without finding of probable cause, the brief detention or stop of the driver of a car outside his vehicle while the police officer issued a traffic summons. The Court reasoned that the detention involved only an incremental intrusion beyond an initial justified stop. The Court balanced that intrusion suffered by the individual against the heightened danger to the police officer in both dealing with people and automobiles and standing exposed to traffic. Id. at 111, 98 S.Ct. at 333, 54 L.Ed.2d at 337.
In New York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106, 106 S.Ct. 960, 89 L.Ed.2d 81 (1986), the Court authorized a limited search for a vehicle identification number on the theory that because the number is generally visible from outside an automobile, a police officer may reach in and move papers obscuring it from view. The Court reasoned that the regulatory importance of the number resulted in a diminished expectation of privacy, and therefore police acted properly in moving the papers after they had stopped the car for a traffic violation and the driver had stepped out voluntarily. The plain view doctrine authorized the subsequent seizure of a gun.
Finally, in Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983), the Court upheld the right of police to conduct a weapons search of the interior of a car when they have a reasonable belief that the motorist is potentially dangerous. In upholding the search, Justice O'Connor's opinion for the Court explained that a search of the passenger compartment of an automobile is "permissible if the police officer possesses a reasonable belief based on 'specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant' the officer in believing that the suspect is dangerous and the suspect may gain immediate control of weapons." Id. at 1049, 103 S.Ct. at 3480, 77 L.Ed.2d at 1220 (quoting Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d at 906).
We may summarize the essence of these protective principles again in the words of Chief Justice Hughes:
"Our evaluation of the proper balance that has to be struck leads us to conclude that there must be a narrowly drawn authority to permit a reasonable search for weapons for the protection of the police officer, where he has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest the individual for a crime. The officer need not be absolutely certain that the individual is armed; the issue is whether a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger."
Accepting these rules as representing bedrock constitutional law, it remains to apply them to the factual base [of the case]. [State ex rel. H.B., supra, 75 N.J. at 248, 381 A.2d 759 (quoting Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. at 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d at 909).]
II
For purposes of the application of the stated principles to the facts of this case, we may accept generally the statement of facts set forth in the State's Appellate Division brief.
On the clear, dry evening of October 21, 1984, at approximately 6:55 p.m., while routinely patrolling the northbound East Brunswick section of the New Jersey Turnpike, a New Jersey State Trooper noticed a 1978 Toyota with Florida license plates traveling in the center lane in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-82 (requiring keeping to right except to pass) and N.J.S.A. 39:4-88 (restricting center lane traffic when lanes are marked). The defendants were driver and passenger in the car. The trooper followed the car for about one mile and then pulled alongside it to make further observations. He then saw that the car, which was still in the center lane, had reflecting materials on the side and rear windows, which he testified was contrary to statute.
As a result of his observation of these traffic offenses, the trooper signaled the driver to stop on the right shoulder of the Turnpike. The trooper then pulled directly behind defendants' car. Before the trooper left his police vehicle, the driver turned around to his left side, toward the back seat, and reached toward the back seat. The trooper's view did not allow him to see what the driver was doing. The trooper approached the passenger side of the vehicle, and as he did so, he saw a cotton windbreaker stuffed into the lower left-hand corner of the back seat in the vicinity of the movement that he had previously observed. He also saw an open travel bag on the rear seat, with a brown paper bag on top of it. The trooper requested the driver's license and registration. The operator, who appeared nervous, produced a Massachusetts license and car-rental agreement but not a car registration. In the trooper's words, the driver "would stop in mid-sentence, his voice was cracking, and [he was] just generally nervous." Observing that the driver "kept looking toward the back seat slightly," the trooper thought, based on his training and experience, that this display of nervousness was unusual for someone who had been stopped for a routine motor vehicle violation. The trooper himself had been shot during such a routine motor vehicle stop about a year before. He then asked the two occupants to step out, after which he conducted a Terry-type frisk of both that revealed no weapons.
The driver and passenger were then ordered to stand to the right front of their vehicle and were watched by another trooper who in the interim had arrived on the scene. The first trooper returned to the car and removed the jacket. On removing the jacket, the trooper saw a white towel sticking out about five inches from the back seat. When he pulled at the towel, it did not move. He then reached into the crevice of the seat, felt a hard object, and reached "around the back seat" to remove that object, a large manila envelope. The officer said that based on his training and experience, he believed that the object in the envelope was a weapon or a controlled dangerous substance. When he opened the envelope he found another hard object inside — a yellow plastic wrapper around another clear plastic wrapper containing what the officer suspected to be, and has been admitted to be, a large quantity of cocaine.
A Middlesex County indictment charged both Lund and Harrison with possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Each moved to suppress the evidence of the cocaine. The Law Division denied the motion, ruling that under Michigan v. Long, supra, 463 U.S. 1032, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201, the officer had a reasonable belief that the occupants of the car may have been dangerous and that he therefore had the right to search the passenger compartment for weapons. Thus, the officer properly removed the jacket in the back seat of the vehicle. With regard to the subsequent actions with respect to the towel, he ruled that "a towel is not a container," and held that it was not unreasonable for the trooper to open the envelope to determine whether the object inside was a weapon. Following the denial of the motion, both defendants entered conditional pleas of guilty to the offenses. Both were sentenced to custodial terms. In an unreported opinion the Appellate Division upheld their convictions, ruling that the actions of the police were "reasonable and necessary for protective purposes in these circumstances," and the search of the containers was reasonable, necessary, and constitutionally proper. We granted the defendants' petitions for certification. 114 N.J. 480, 481, 555 A.2d 606 (1989).
Ill
No one disputes that not every motor vehicle stop establishes the basis for a car search. The touchstone of decision obviously will be found in the facts of each case. Michigan v. Long, supra, 463 U.S. 1032, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201, illustrates the principle. Long establishes that officers must possess objective cause before intruding into constitutionally-protected areas. In Long, two sheriff's deputies saw the defendant's car traveling fast and erratically along a lonely and deserted road in the early morning hours. The officers stopped the vehicle and Long, the only occupant, met them at the rear of the car. After Long failed to produce his vehicle registration, the officers noticed that he "appeared to be under the influence of something." Id. at 1036, 103 S.Ct. at 3473, 77 L.Ed.2d at 1211. As Long headed for the vehicle, apparently to retrieve his registration, the officers followed him and observed a large hunting knife in plain view in the car. The deputies then subjected Long to a Terry protective search and examined the interior of his vehicle by shining a flashlight through a window. As a result of that search, the deputies discovered marijuana, which they seized. The Court concluded, on the basis of the plain-view observation of the large hunting knife and a suspect who appeared to be under the influence of something, that the officers possessed a reasonable belief that the driver threatened their safety because he might gain access to a weapon. Id. at 1049-50, 103 S.Ct. at 3480-81, 77 L.Ed.2d at 1220.
Other cases emphasize the same norms of concern for police safety when dealing with armed and dangerous people. In Commonwealth v. Almeida, 373 Mass. 266, 366 N.E.2d 756 (1977), a cruiser patrolling a high-crime area just after midnight stopped alongside an automobile. The car was parked with the driver in the driver's seat. The engine was running and the lights were out. Because the area was known for its high rate of crime, the officer decided to investigate and asked the driver if he had a registration. In what the policeman perceived to be a suspicious way the driver then lifted the cover to the console located between the driver and passenger seats to retrieve his wallet. Having ordered the driver to step outside, the officer opened the door to the vehicle and saw protruding from underneath the front seat what he recognized to be the holster of a gun. The policeman pulled out the holster. It had ammunition. He opened the console and found a fully-loaded automatic weapon. The Almeida court found the search to be strictly tied to and justified by the officer's reasonable belief that a gun might have been nearby endangering his safety.
We applied these same principles relating to the presence of weapons in State v. Esteves, 93 N.J. 498, 461 A.2d 1128 (1983), in which police officers were dispatched to investigate a possible robbery in progress at a local meat market. The dispatcher had related that a man with a gun was seen in an orange Volkswagen. On arriving at the scene, the police went first to the store. Next turning their attention to the car in the parking lot, the officers saw what appeared to be a small handgun between the front seats. The officers began to search the car for the identification. Their search of containers in the car uncovered drugs. We there concluded that "[w]hen a police officer 'has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest,' " id. at- 506, 461 A.2d 1128 (quoting Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. at 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d at 909), and such an individual has left his vehicle and has been subjected to a Terry search, the limited search of the vehicle would be sustained because the " 'defendants would have returned to their vehicle and, had there been a weapon, the weapon would then have been within the reach of the defendants,' " id. 93 N.J. at 507, 461 A.2d 1128 (quoting State v. Brown, 160 N.J.Super. 227, 234, 389 A.2d 507 (Law Div.1978)). In Brown the court said: "Among the considerations leading to this conclusion [that the search was reasonable] is the fact that the incident occurred at 4 a.m., a time in which there is very little traffic, thus leading to the isolation of the officer. Further, there were three men in the car, [and] the limited search of the vehicle was 'strictly tied to and justified by' the officer's suspicion that there may have been a weapon present endangering his safety." Id. at 234, 389 A.2d 507 (quoting Terry, supra, 392 U.S. at 19, 88 S.Ct. at 1878, 20 L.Ed.2d at 904). The suspect vehicle in Brown had been observed swerving between the marked lanes and tailgating another vehicle.
We recently had occasion to reconsider the Terry principles in State v. Thomas, 110 N.J. 673, 542 A.2d 912 (1988), in which we noted that whether there is good cause under the Terry rule for an officer to make a protective search incident to an investigatory stop is a question separate from whether it was permissible to stop the suspect in the first place. The search is judged by whether a reasonably prudent person would be warranted in the belief that his or her safety or that of others was in danger. Id. at 685, 542 A.2d 912. That reasonableness is to be measured by an objective standard. More than subjective impressions are required. Ibid.
"[I]n determining whether the officer acted reasonably in such circumstances, due weight must be given, not to his inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or 'hunch,' but to the specific reasonable inferences which he is entitled to draw from the facts in light of his experience." Id. at 679, 542 A.2d 912 (quoting Terry, supra, 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. at 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d at 909). We there noted the various circumstances that may give rise to an objectively reasonable suspicion that a suspect is armed and dangerous. In some instances the right to conduct a protective search flows directly from the basis for the investigatory stop. We quoted Justice Harlan in his concurring opinion in Terry, who stated that "the right to frisk must be immediate and automatic if the reason for the stop is, as here, an articulable suspicion of a crime of violence." Id. 110 N.J. at 680, 542 A.2d 912 (quoting Terry, supra, 392 U.S. at 33, 88 S.Ct. at 1886, 20 L. Ed.2d at 913). In addition,
courts are more likely to approve of "automatic" protective searches when officers, before they even approach the suspect, have a specific and objectively credible reason to believe the suspect is armed. See Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143 [92 S.Ct. 1921], 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972) (upholding protective search based on an informant's tip that suspect seated in car was carrying narcotics and had "a gun at his waist."). [Ibid.]
See also State ex rel. H.B., supra, 75 N.J. 243, 381 A.2d 759 (upholding frisk based on anonymous tip concerning armed black man at luncheonette in black hat, black leather coat, and checkered pants when defendant precisely fit broadcast description).
In cases in which there is an insufficient basis for a protective search at the threshold of an encounter between an officer and a suspect, events occurring subsequent to a permissible investigatory stop may give rise to an objectively credible suspicion that the suspect is armed. Thus, in Pennsylvania v. Mimms, supra, 434 U.S. 106, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331, when the police officers had stopped the automobile to issue the driver a traffic summons, as a matter of routine they requested him to step out. As the driver did so the officers observed a large bulge under his jacket, permitting the police to conclude that the driver was armed and thus posed a serious and present danger to their safety. Finally, there might be circumstances in which furtive movement and nervous appearance would establish the basis for a protective search. See United States v. Oates, 560 F.2d 45, 62 (2d Cir.1977) (observing that "to 'substantial dealers in narcotics' firearms are as much 'tools of the trade' as are most commonly recognized articles of narcotics paraphernalia" (quoting United States v. Wiener, 534 F.2d 15, 18 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 820, 97 S.Ct. 66, 50 L.Ed.2d 80 (1976))).
Applying such principles to the facts of the Thomas case, we found that when the police had received detailed information that a person was in the possession of illegal drugs, it would establish the basis for an investigatory stop. 110 N.J. at 683, 542 A.2d 912. Unlike the situation in State ex rel. H.B., supra, 75 N.J. 243, 381 A.2d 759, we concluded, however, that the suspicion of engaging in narcotics activity did not by itself establish that the defendant was "suspected of the violent criminal activity that would justify an 'automatic' search." Thomas, supra, 110 N.J. at 684, 542 A.2d 912 (quoting Terry, supra, 392 U.S. at 33, 88 S.Ct. at 1886, 20 L.Ed.2d at 913 (Harlan, J., concurring)). There had been no indication that the .defendant was armed. We thus ruled that the record did not establish a particularized basis for an objectively reasonable belief that the defendant was armed and dangerous. Id. 110 N.J. at 685, 542 A.2d 912.
There is evidence in this case that the suspects appeared nervous. Nervousness and furtive gestures may, in conjunction with other objective facts, justify a Terry search, but ordinarily "[m]ere furtive gestures of an occupant of an automobile do not give rise to an articulable suspicion suggesting criminal activity." State v. Schlosser, 774 P.2d 1132, 1137 (Utah 1989); see Spence v. State, 525 So.2d 442 (Fla.Dist.Ct. App.1988) (leaning down as if putting something on floor did not justify officer's suspicion of criminal activity); People v. Mills, 115 Ill.App.3d 809, 71 Ill.Dec. 247, 450 N.E.2d 935 (1983) (defendant's moving fast and leaning forward as officer approached did not create reasonable suspicion justifying even a stop); People v. Superior Court of Yolo County, 3 Cal.3d 807, 91 Cal.Rptr. 729, 478 P.2d 449 (1970) (passenger's putting her arm over the back seat, then facing forward and bending down, then resuming normal position did not support probable cause to search).
The Utah Supreme Court has reasoned that "[w]hen confronted with a traffic stop, it is not uncommon for drivers and passengers alike to be nervous and excited and to turn to look at an approaching police officer." State v. Schlosser, supra, 774 P.2d at 1138 (citing State v. Mendoza, 748 P.2d 181, 184 (Utah 1987)). Nervousness may mean something when combined with the discovery of drugs. See State v. Palacio, 111 N.J. 543, 545 A.2d 764 (1988). But as the dissent in Palacio points out, "[t]hat defendant appeared nervous while the police searched the car proves little more than that the presence of police officers tends to make most people somewhat apprehensive." Id. at 558, 545 A.2d 764 (Stein, J., dissenting). Here, as in the Utah case, the officers did not point to anything that made the circumstances unusual or suspicious other than the facts that the registration was not in the rented car and the driver spoke haltingly and glanced backward.
Obviously there are some cases in which "furtive" movements or gestures by a motorist, accompanied by other circumstances, will ripen into a reasonable suspicion that the person may be armed and dangerous or probable cause to believe that the person possesses criminal contraband. Examples of such factors are additional evasive action, lying to the police, the presence of other incriminating information about the motorist or occupants of the car, the absence of identification, and even the lateness of the hour. See Annotation, "Search and Seizure: 'Furtive' Movement or Gesture As Justifying Police Search," 45 A.L.R.3d 581 (1972). On the basis of our precedents, we conclude that this record does not establish a specific particularized basis for an objectively reasonable belief that the defendants were armed and dangerous.
IV
To sum up, we agree with the position of the Attorney General that the Michigan v. Long rule is sound and compelling precedent and should be followed to protect New Jersey's police community. We have applied the rule of that case, which incorporates the Terry protective-search principles, in the search of a car. In making this ruling, we have no doubt about the good faith of the officer on patrol. New Jersey, along with the United States Supreme Court, has recognized that the good faith of police officers is civil justification for their conduct. Kirk v. City of Newark, 109 N.J. 173, 536 A.2d 229 (1988). We know how hard it is for an officer on patrol to make split-second decisions that have to be analyzed months, if not years, later on a constitutional dimension. This officer, despite having been shot during a prior motor-vehicle stop, was extremely candid and straightforward in his testimony. He made no claim of having smelled marijuana or having seen drug paraphernalia in the car or suspicious objects in plain view. Indeed, he did not claim that he feared he was in danger but rather only that he was taking steps to make sure he could not be threatened. And the assistant prosecutor, who argued the suppression motion, was equally candid, saying at one point to the court: "It's close. It's close."
To some extent, the complexity in this field of law is cause for concern in itself. Justice Potter Stewart exhorted us to state the determinative rules with greater precision:
The exclusionary rule is criticized for allowing criminals to go free because of a "technicality" — because a police officer failed to comply with what are sometimes described as "hypertechnical" rules. [W]e who have served as Justices of the Supreme Court must take our share of the blame. The fourth amendment is no "technicality." The occupation of a judge requires application of its sweeping language to cases presenting the infinite variety of factual situations that arise in real life. The art of being a judge, if there is such an art, is in announcing clear rules in the context of these infinitely varied cases, rules that can be understood and observed by conscientious government officials. If the outcomé of fourth amendment cases has come to be regarded as turning on "technicalities," it is in part because of the inevitable human shortcomings of judges faced with the task of articulating fourth amendment principles applicable in a broad range of situations while doing justice in a particular case. Most judges do their best, but that is not always good enough. [Stewart, "The Road to Mapp v. Ohio and Beyond," 83 Colum.L.Rev. 1365, 1393 (1983).]
Three recent Appellate Division cases illustrate the problem of line-drawing in this area. In State v. Lipski, 238 N.J.Super. 100, 569 A.2d 272 (1990), the court invalidated a protective search based on routine procedure with no articulable suspicion that the driver was armed or dangerous. The court in State v. Letman, 235 N.J.Super. 337, 562 A.2d 260 (1989), held that the flashlight sweep of the interior of a stopped vehicle, exposing in plain view a clear plastic bag filled with a white powder, warranted invocation of the automobile exception. In State v. Carter, 235 N.J.Super. 232, 561 A.2d 1196, appeal denied, (1989), the court held that observation of a passenger's "furtive movement," id. at 240, 561 A.2d 1196, reaching underneath the front seat, would sustain a Terry-type search of the car after the four occupants had left the vehicle. Each case involved varied strands of fourth amendment doctrine applied by conscientious government officials. But the common theme remains the development of objective principles of decision.
Those principles were recently restated by the United States Supreme Court. It said that "[i]n a sense Long authorized a "frisk" of an automobile for weapons." Maryland v. Buie, — U.S.-, 110 S.Ct. 1093, 108 L.Ed.2d 276 (1990). Such a frisk or "protective sweep" is justified only on the basis of "specific and articulable facts" and not on an "inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or hunch that [the officer] is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual." Id. at-, 110 S.Ct. at 1097, 108 L.Ed.2d at 284-285 (quoting Terry, supra, 392 U.S. at 21 & 27, 88 S.Ct. at 1879 & 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d at 906 & 909). This record falls short of that standard.
We wish that we could do more, but Justice White has reminded us too that there is no "litmus-paper test for determining when a seizure exceeds the bounds of an investigative stop" and that "it is unlikely that the courts can reduce to a sentence or a paragraph a rule that will provide unarguable answers to the question whether there has been an unreasonable search or seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Nevertheless, we must render judgment Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 506-07, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1329, 75 L.Ed.2d 229, 242 (1983).
The judgment of the Appellate Division is reversed and the matter remanded to the Law Division for further proceedings.