Yes. The police can stop a person, and ask questions, without "arresting" the person.
Upon seeing suspicious activity, the police may perform what is called a "Terry
Stop," and may temporarily detain people to request that they identify themselves
and to question them about the suspicious activity. The scope of a "Terry Stop" is
limited to investigation of the specific suspicious activity, and if the police detain
people to question them about additional matters, the stop can turn into an
"arrest." For their own safety, the police can perform a "weapons frisk" on the
outside of a person's clothes (sometimes called "patting down the suspect") during a
"Terry Stop." During this frisk, if they feel something that may be a weapon, they may
remove it from the suspect for further examination. However, they are not entitled
to remove items from person's pockets that do not appear to be weapons, even if they
believe that the items are contraband.
Remember this little bit of info, in reality you are not actually required to provide
your name to police. You can claim a 5th Amendment on it. However, courts will in
the end generally uphold an arrest if a cop hauls you to jail for failing to identify
yourself. But hey, after that, you do NOT have to utter a single word to police. The
general consensus is we all feel "intimidated" with the "Verbal Judo" they use, the
uniform, buzz cut, gun and attitude. Just as you can walk up to anyone on a public
street and start asking them questions, so can police. They are citizens too. The key
is to just not speak, answer or consent to anything. So, all this old wizard will do is
provide my driver license and as for any questions to me at all I will simply say,
"I do not consent to speaking to you". You will find that most people that go to jail go
there due to bumping them gums. SO ACT LIKE A DEAF AND DUMB MUTE
AND NOT SAY NOTHING MORE THAN YOUR NAME.
Then again, who am I? I'm not an attorney...I'm just an attorney's worst nightmare.
