Also known as: Buie sweeps · Buie protective sweep · protective sweep · Maryland v. Buie sweep
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A quick and limited search of premises incident to an arrest conducted to protect the safety of police officers or others. The sweep is narrowly confined to a cursory visual inspection of places where a person might be hiding and requires a reasonable belief based on specific and articulable facts that the area harbors an individual posing a danger.
Regulatory agents arrested Dana Lee in her condominium kitchen on kickback charges. Upon hearing a soft thud from the nearby walk-in closet while handcuffing her, two agents quickly swept the spare bedroom and closet, looking only in places where a person could hide. They found incriminating documents in plain view during the brief check.
Officers arrested Autumn inside her rented townhouse on assault-related charges. Sergeant Ramirez noticed muddy work boots near the open basement doorway and smelled fresh cigarette smoke rising from below. He descended briefly to look behind a stack of drywall where a person could hide, finding only construction materials.
Detective Harris arrested Luis just inside his townhouse door on phone-cloning charges. Officers walked through the den and into the closed-door basement rec room after noting signs that an armed associate might be present. They limited the check to spaces where a person could hide.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Deputies entered the Wilson home at dawn to execute arrest warrants with a reporter and photographer in tow. They conducted a quick visual inspection of rooms and closets for potential threats before completing the arrests. The media presence accompanied the limited safety check.
Officers need a reasonable belief based on specific and articulable facts that the area harbors an individual posing a danger to officers or others. The belief must exceed a mere hunch and must be tied to concrete observations such as sounds, odors, or recent signs of occupancy.
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The sweep must be quick and cursory, lasting only as long as necessary to check for persons. Officers may look only in places where a person might hide and may not open containers too small to conceal a human being.
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No. Items found in plain view during a lawful protective sweep are admissible even if the underlying offense is nonviolent. The sweep's safety purpose does not become invalid merely because evidence appears incidentally.
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No. Reports of past patterns must be combined with contemporaneous, particularized facts showing a person may presently be present and dangerous. Signs of recent activity such as warm food or fresh odors can supply the needed particularity when paired with other indicators.
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…a search. Cf. Maryland v. Buie , 494 U. S. 325, 334 (1990) (holding that, incident to arrest, an officer may conduct a limited protective sweep of those areas of a house in which he reasonably suspects a dangerous person may be hiding). These exceptions together ensure that officers may search a vehicle when genuine safety or…