What establishes reasonable suspicion (RS)?

Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard used in law enforcement that allows officers to stop and briefly detain a person for investigative purposes if they have specific and articulable facts that a crime may be occurring. This concept relies heavily on objective observations and evidence rather than subjective feelings or assumptions.

The correct answer encompasses crucial elements that law enforcement officers consider when forming reasonable suspicion. These include their observations of an individual’s behavior, the context of the situation (such as time and location), and the individual's reputation. For instance, if an officer sees someone engaging in suspicious activity in a known high-crime area late at night, these observable factors can contribute to forming reasonable suspicion.

In contrast, personal feelings or biases, hunches based on past experiences without current supportive evidence, or relying solely on circumstantial evidence does not meet the threshold for reasonable suspicion. Each of these could lead to arbitrary or unjustified stops, which the standard for reasonable suspicion is aimed to avoid, ensuring that police actions are based on facts rather than intuition or assumptions.