An Analysis of “Reasonable Suspicion”

4 min readJul 12, 2020

Terry vs. Ohio (1967) the Supreme Court held that the search undertaken by the officer involved was reasonable because he “acted on more than just a hunch”, under the Fourth Amendment, which protects people against unreasonable search and seizure. Of the 43,077 people who were subjected to Terry Stops in Seattle, WA from 2015–2020, 10,505 of them were found to be carrying weapons. 9,474 subjects were frisked, and 2,173 subjects were arrested. This raises the question:

Why were the other 33,603 stopped?

The top reported 911 calls and reason documented for “Onview (“officer just witnessed an incident”) was for a “Suspicious Person”. Diving into the data we are able to see the Terry Stop Subject and reporting officer demographics below:

African Americans are 6.1% of Seattle’s population, however they make up nearly ⅓ of those stopped. Meanwhile 49% of Seattle’s population is women, and women only make up less than ⅕ of the stops. Going back to the Call Types marked as “Suspicious Person”, the first questions that come to mind are:

How is “suspicious” defined by police departments? By residents? Is this criteria measurable and can it be trained on?
Is the “suspicion criteria” passed on to 911 dispatchers?
Is this criteria universal? Does suspicion look the same across all races, genders, and age groups?
With considerably less women being stopped than their male counterparts, it brings up the next question, Are women generally seen as less threatening by our society? Is this a blindspot?
Are officers trained to spot when an individual is having mental health issues, and how to properly deal with that person, so that he or she can get the help that he or she needs?

In the landmark Terry vs. Ohio case, Supreme Court justices ruled that the officer on duty acted on more than just a “hunch” when he stopped to search the subjects. With only 24% of the subjects discovered to be carrying a weapon. When officers are in the field either responding to 911 calls and initiating stops;

At what point are officers operating on “more than just a hunch”? Is this instinct or chance?
How much of that instinct is based on experience in the field, or on world-views shaped by upbringing?
Are there measures put in place to prevent instincts from morphing into biases?

To lessen the probability of bias fueling instincts, 911 Dispatchers and officers should be enrolled in annual implicit bias training. This is pertinent for dispatchers because as the messengers and classifiers of 911 Calls, they should be trained in asking the proper questions to identify whether actual threats are imminent, or if bias is the culprit. These fielding questions will save officers time and prevent violence against pedestrians who are not carrying weapons or committing a crime. In addition officers should be partnered with counselors who are licensed to identify individuals who are dealing with mental health issues and abuse victims. In order for community policing to be effective, the police force should at a minimum be reflective of the communities that they are serving. Specifically, minority representation within the law will help initially well intentioned laws from unfairly targeting People of Color. Investments in the areas of recruitment and soft skills training will offset the costs of lawsuits such as these:

An Analysis of “Reasonable Suspicion”

Written by Erica Gabriel