Reasonable Suspicion and Investigatory Detention

If you’ve read this blog you’ve heard the terms “Reasonable Suspicion” and “Investigatory Detention” many times. Both terms are used in defining a police officer’s right to stop, investigate and detain an individual for a possible OVI or other criminal matter. As I’ve explained, each court reviews the totality of the evidence presented to determine whether the officer had the right to stop individual and investigate further. The court will further determine when the investigatory stop turns into an investigatory detention for purposes of a giving the individual their Miranda warnings.

A recent Ohio court set forth, what I feel, are very good definitions for these terms. The definitions are very descriptive of the criteria needed to justify the stop, investigation and detention. The case is State v. Chadwell, 2009 Ohio 1630, 2009 Ohio App. LEXIS 1344.

The case involved a non-OVI arrest for drug possession and trafficking. Although the case does not involve an OVI arrest, it does articulate these terms well. In its synopsis, the court defines the terms as follows:

"Reasonable suspicion”justifying an investigatory stop entails some minimal level of objective justification for making a stop -- that is, something more than an inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or 'hunch,' but less than the level of suspicion required for probable cause," State v. Jones, 70 Ohio App.3d 554

“An appellate court determines the existence of "reasonable and articulable suspicion" by evaluating the totality of the circumstances, considering those circumstances through the eyes of the reasonable and prudent police officer on the scene who must react to events as they unfold.”

“An investigatory detention occurs when, by means of physical force or show of authority, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave or was compelled to respond to questions.”

Therefore, it is important to note when an officer does stop a driver he need not observe sufficient evidence for probable cause but merely a reasonable suspicion that the individual was driving under the influence, probable cause being a higher level of evidence than reasonable suspicion.

But once a reasonable person would believe they are not free to leave or are compelled to respond to questioning, they are now being detained necessitating that the officer outline their constitutional rights against self incrimination.