The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled this week that police must corroborate anonymous tips before officers stop and frisk someone.
The unanimous court ruling came in a case involving a man who was convicted of being a felon in possession of a handgun and having a firearm while intoxicated.
The opinion, which overturned a ruling of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, said police had no grounds to stop and frisk Guy Alvin Williamson at a hotel because there was no indication, beyond the anonymous report, that a crime had been committed. As a result, the court said evidence against Williamson should have been suppressed.
The opinion protects everyone from illegal searches and seizures, said Parker Dixon, an assistant public defender in Tipton County, who represents Williamson.
Williamson was arrested after an anonymous report was made to Covington police in May 2009 of an "armed party" at a local motel. Police had only the report of an armed person before they drew their guns on his client and two others — essentially seizing them — when they were at the motel, Dixon said.
Dixon maintained in this case that police should have had to have more grounds to assume that a crime had been committed than just a report that someone was armed, especially seeing as how many people legally have the right to carry a gun.
"This case really protects someone's rights to bear arms," Dixon said.
It also protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures, he added.
The opinion didn't say police couldn't act on anonymous tips--only that they have to have some reason to believe that a crime has been committed before stopping and frisking someone.
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