Opinion ID: 1914449
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Detention Requires Reasonable, Articulable Suspicion

Text: A police officer may detain an individual for investigatory purposes if the officer has a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the individual is engaged in criminal activity. [6] Reasonable suspicion is a less demanding standard than probable cause. [7] It depends on the the officer's ability to `point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant th[e] intrusion.' [8] In determining whether reasonable suspicion exists, the court looks at the totality of the circumstances, [9] as viewed through the eyes of a reasonable, trained police officer in the same or similar circumstances, combining objective facts with such an officer's subjective interpretation of those facts. [10] A person is seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when the police, by means of physical force or show of authority, `communicate[ ] to a reasonable person that he [is] not at liberty to ignore the police presence and go about his business.' [11] In this case, Hall was seized when Detective Simpler parked his car behind the Taurus and blocked it in, then approached the car and ordered Hall to get his hands out from behind his back.