[Army MP Retired]

A cop can stop and search anyone he or she wants to based on reasonable suspicion, that is, a reasonable belief based on specific and articulable facts, that a person is about to commit, is committing, or has committed a crime. Call it a hunch that you could explain to a reasonable person, if you will.

May be just semantics here, but this is more appropriately explained as 'stop and frisk.' Frisk is the least intrusive 'search' and the intent is to secure weapons to protect the officer's safety - it is not intended to arbitrarily seek evidence of a crime. It generally does not involve going into pockets or carried items that can be isolated from the person being stopped. Generically, this is a 'pat down' because that's basically all that is supposed to happen... those places where a weapon could be concealed are patted and if something the could be a weapon is felt - that particular spot is further investigated.

[54-46 Was My Number]

May be just semantics here, but this is more appropriately explained as 'stop and frisk.'

That is what I meant, and I do defer to your expertise in the matter as a retired MP.