This applies to police officers because of their constant contact with the public, in places both public and private. Every contact the police have with private citizens is regulated by the Fourth Amendment. Every time a police officer stops a person on the street, stops a vehicle and/or enters a residence on a call for service they are regulated by the Fourth Amendment. For the run-of-the-mill, average street cop, there is no greater aspect of law effecting their daily operation than the Fourth Amendment. .
In looking at how the Fourth Amendment impacts street level policing, it is important to look at what exactly street cops do. For the average street cop working in a large metropolitan community, their job involves three basic functions. The first is stopping vehicles, the second is stopping pedestrians and the third is responding to calls for service. All three are different in nature, yet they are similar in that they involve contact with the public in places both public and private. .
Policing in America in an inherently dangerous job, every year hundreds of police officers are killed and several thousand more are injured in the line of duty. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.), from 1998 – 2007 there were 586,649 assaults on law enforcement officers leading to 164,695 injuries. Additionally, during that time span there were 1,676 officers killed in the line of duty (Deaths, Assaults and Injuries 1998-2007, NLEOMF). In 2008 there were 39 officers killed in the line of duty by gunfire. This represents the lowest total since 1956 when there were 35 killed. The 2008 total also reflects a 43 percent reduction in firearm related deaths from 2007, when there were 68 officers killed by gunfire (Spence, B.; Heyliger, C.; Borrego, J.; & Lyons-Wynne, L., March 2009). .
As stated earlier, one of the basic fundamental aspects of a police officers job is contacting the public during pedestrian and vehicle stops.