Opinion ID: 164535
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Walkie-Talkie

Text: 32 After having rejected the tip and Johnson's behavior, the district court went on to dismiss Johnson's handling of the walkie-talkie [as] a contributing factor to the reasonable suspicion determination. Officer Middleton testified that Johnson's handling of the walkie-talkie made him suspicious because walkie-talkies are often used by people involved in drug dealing and other crime, and that by depressing the button Johnson could be signaling to someone that he was being confronted by police. The court refused to consider this because Officer Middleton acknowledged that Johnson never spoke directly into the walkie-talkie and that he was not sure Johnson was actually calling someone. 33 The district court's ruling on this point is directly contradicted by our holding in Williams, where we acknowledged that police have learned that such devices are often used by drug traffickers and that they suggest the close proximity of a coconspirator. See 271 F.3d at 1269. See also United States v. Inocencio, 40 F.3d 716, 723 n. 9 (5th Cir.1994) (describing use of walkie-talkies by drug smugglers). An officer need not actually observe an individual use an object in a criminal manner for it to raise the officer's suspicions. See Sokolow, 490 U.S. at 9-10, 109 S.Ct. 1581. Indeed, in Williams, the officer never even saw the defendant touch the walkie-talkie; he just saw it on the passenger seat of the defendant's vehicle. 271 F.3d at 1265. Although in some situations a walkie-talkie may be innocuous, here, as in Williams, the radio in this case contributed substantially to the officer's suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. 271 F.3d at 1269. In Officer Middleton's words, a walkie-talkie really gives us that heightened sense of awareness.... [W]e get really concerned as to who is watching us and who is listening to what's going on and who is going to be coming in to see us. The fact that Johnson appeared to be using this device to broadcast his dialogue with Officer Middleton only added to the aura of illegality and danger. 34