Opinion ID: 2549040
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Role of Subjective Belief

Text: ¶ 20 Though an officer's subjective belief alone is insufficient to validate or invalidate a Terry frisk, to completely disregard an officer's subjective belief excludes a potentially important element of the analysis. In stating that subjective belief alone is not enough to justify a frisk, the United States Supreme Court appears to recognize that subjective belief may be one of the factors in determining the reasonableness of an officer's decision to perform a Terry frisk. Terry, 392 U.S. at 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868. In fact, in other situations, an officer's subjective factual determination based on experience and specialized training has been given due weight as part of the objective analysis. United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 273, 122 S.Ct. 744, 151 L.Ed.2d 740 (2002). In Arvizu, an officer evaluated facially neutral facts to develop a reasonable suspicion that a family driving a van was involved in illegal drug smuggling. Id. at 270-71, 122 S.Ct. 744. The Court considered the officer's subjective interpretation of the facts as part of the totality of the circumstances. Id. at 277, 122 S.Ct. 744. Thus, the Court has demonstrated that there are subjective elements that may be considered in an otherwise objective analysis. ¶ 21 The totality of the circumstances analysis objectively evaluates all facts before the officer at the time the officer made the decision. The officer, with experience and training, is in the best position to evaluate the circumstances and determine the reasonableness of a Terry frisk. We recognize that some officers may never admit that they feared for their safety. Holt, 264 F.3d at 1225-26. Likewise, other officers may always claim they believed a stop was dangerous in order to justify a frisk. Nevertheless, an officer's own evaluation of the circumstances may provide valuable insight to factor into the objective analysis. How much weight this factor is given is a determination for the individual court, though a Terry frisk cannot be validated or invalidated based solely on a subjective belief because no one factor alone is determinative of reasonableness. Carter, 707 P.2d at 659. An officer's determination that a person may be armed and dangerous, like an officer's subjective interpretation of the facts to determine that a crime has been or is being committed, is one of several possible articulable facts a court may consider as part of the totality of the circumstances.