What Equals Reasonable Suspicion for an Investigative Traffic Stop?
In order for a police officer to form reasonable suspicion sufficient to justify an investigative traffic stop based on a citizen’s anonymous DUI tip, two things must exist: • The DUI tip was sufficiently precise and not overly vague, and • The activity the DUI tip describes is sufficiently dangerous to the rest of society. It is not exactly clear what is sufficiently precise and sufficiently dangerous activity. Past cases have held a police investigative traffic stop to be justified when an anonymous citizen called the police, gave the general make and model of the vehicle in question, and its location, in connection with one of the following activities: • Erratic driving, • Illegally parked and creating a traffic hazard, • Reckless driving, or • Waiving a weapon at other motorists.
