When can you stop someone?

• A. When the officer has reasonable articulate suspicion that the person has been, is, or about to be engaged in criminal activity
• B. When you have probable cause
• C. When the person consents
• D. When there is a warrant

Answer: (A)

Stopping someone is allowed when an officer has reasonable articulable suspicion that the person has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity. This means the officer must be able to point to specific, objective facts or circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to suspect involvement in a crime, not just a gut feeling. The rule comes from the Terry v. Ohio line of cases, which permits a brief detention to investigate, paired with a limited frisk for weapons if there’s a concern for the officer’s safety. The stop should be temporary and narrowly tailored to resolve the suspicion; questions asked and the length of the detention should be proportional to the circumstances.

If during the stop, probable cause develops—clear facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe the person is committing or has committed a crime—the situation can escalate to arrest. Other mechanisms, like arrest based on probable cause, consent to search or detain, or obtaining a warrant, are different actions that come into play after the initial stop, not the basis for initiating a brief stop in the first place.