Four decades after the state Court of Appeals issued a complex, four-tiered standard to govern street encounters between police and civilians, the judge who wrote the decision says it may be time to give the ruling a fresh look.
Sol Wachtler, who served as chief judge from 1985 to 1992, said that his decision in People v. De Bour, 40 NY2d 210 (1976), was a product of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the country was suffering an epidemic of violent crime, and courts were working to strike a balance between protecting the rights of citizens to be free from illegal search and seizure while giving police the latitude to do their jobs effectively.
