Opinion ID: 1407728
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: United States v. Cortez: the Totality of the Circumstances

Text: When determining whether a law enforcement officer had the reasonable, articulable suspicion necessary to seize a defendant, [a] court must consider `the totality of the circumstances  the whole picture.' Watkins, 337 N.C. at 441, 446 S.E.2d at 70 (quoting United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981)). Moreover, an assessment of the whole picture . . . must raise a suspicion that the particular individual being stopped is engaged in wrongdoing. Cortez, 449 U.S. at 418, 101 S.Ct. 690. Consistent with the totality of the circumstances approach, a court must ascertain whether all of the circumstances taken together amount to reasonable suspicion. United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 9, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 104 L.Ed.2d 740 (1989); see also United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 274, 122 S.Ct. 744, 151 L.Ed.2d 740 (2002) (stating that Terry precludes a divide-and-conquer analysis of reasonable suspicion).