Opinion ID: 1737008
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the Stop was of a Reasonable Type

Text: Applying the precepts set forth above to this case, we consider first the nature and extent of the governmental interests involved. It is obvious that the public interest demands effective measures to prevent and investigate the types of violent crimes suffered by the victim in this case. The offenses involved here were not violations of mere sumptuary laws but some of the most bestial and antisocial of all crimes. Moreover, there often is no practicable alternative available to officers investigating such crimes except to insist on an encounter with the suspect. Failure to identify suspicious persons in the vicinity of a recently committed violent crime may mean the loss of the only opportunity for bringing the offender to justice. Against this valid public interest we must weigh the interference with individual liberty that results from a brief stop for questioning. The intrusion is modest. A person stopped under such circumstances is not obliged to answer, answers may not be compelled, and refusal to answer furnishes no basis for an arrest, although it may alert the officer to the need for continued observation. See Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. at 34, 88 S.Ct. at 1886 (White, J., concurring.) A brief stop of a suspicious individual, in order to determine his identity or to ask him to explain suspicious circumstances, may be most reasonable in light of the facts known to the officer at the time. Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143,146, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 1923, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972). Because of the importance of the governmental interest at stake, the minimal intrusion of a brief stop, and the absence of practical alternatives, we conclude that when an officer's observations, together with a substantially corroborated tip, lead him reasonably to suspect that a particular vehicle may contain evidence of a recent violent crime, he may stop the car briefly and investigate the circumstances that provoke suspicion. See Delaware v. Prouse, supra 440 U.S. at 654, 99 S.Ct. at 1396; United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, supra 422 U.S. at 881, 95 S.Ct. at 2580.