Opinion ID: 1952375
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Arbitrary Application

Text: The defendants contend that this statute authorizes police officers to use their unbridled discretion to arrest whomever they please. We disagree. This statute only authorizes an arrest where the person loitering or prowling does so under circumstances which threaten a breach of the peace or the public safety. While the statute might be unconstitutionally applied in certain situations, this is no ground for finding the statute itself unconstitutional. We are not here dealing with the historical loitering and vagrancy statute that makes status a crime and gives uncontrolled discretion to the individual law enforcement officer to make the determination of what is a crime. As previously noted, the statute contains two elements: (1) loitering or prowling in a place at a time and in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals, and (2) such loitering and prowling were under circumstances that threaten the public safety. Proof of both elements is essential in order to establish a violation of the statute. This statute comes into operation only when the surrounding circumstances suggest to a reasonable man some threat and concern for the public safety. These circumstances are not very different from those that the United States Supreme Court described as specific and articulable facts in Terry v. Ohio, supra. Clearly, when these elements are established and the individual either refuses or fails to properly identify himself or flees when confronted by a law enforcement officer, the offense has been established. On the other hand, under circumstances where the elements are established but the accused, upon being confronted by a law enforcement officer, properly produces credible and reliable identification and complies with the orders of the law enforcement officer necessary to remove the threat to the public safety, or voluntarily offers a reasonable explanation for his presence that dispels the alarm and threat, then the charge under this statute can no longer properly be made. The whole purpose of the statute is to provide law enforcement with a suitable tool to prevent crime and allow a specific means to eliminate a situation which a reasonable man would believe could cause a breach of the peace or a criminal threat to persons or property.