A police officer in North Philadelphia. Read more Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

by Chris Palmer Published Sept. 30, 2025, 3:53 p.m. ET

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has urged judges statewide to use caution when evaluating whether police who testify in court have accurately described a neighborhood or block as a “high crime area,” saying some officers tend to apply that designation “as a matter of routine” — or even sometimes use it to try to justify legally questionable pedestrian stops.

The guidance came in an opinion released last week in which the high court declined to create strict legal standards for how and when judges should consider an area “high crime.”

Instead, the justices said, judges should weigh a variety of factors to determine if the label is

See Full Page