What is required for officers to establish reasonable suspicion?

To establish reasonable suspicion, officers must rely on specific facts that indicate possible criminal activity. Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard that is less stringent than probable cause, but it requires more than just vague intuition or general feelings about a situation. Officers need to have concrete, articulable facts or circumstances that would lead a reasonable officer to believe that a person may be involved in criminal activity. This could include observed behavior, information from informants, or other specific evidence that links the individual to potential wrongdoing.

This requirement ensures that officers have a legitimate basis for their actions, which helps to protect citizens' rights against arbitrary intrusion. Relying solely on gut feelings or witness accounts without corroborating facts would not meet the legal standard necessary for reasonable suspicion, as it must be rooted in observable, verifiable evidence rather than assumptions or unverified claims.