NCJ Number
138722
Journal
Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook (September 1992) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1992
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This text of a television training program for South Carolina law enforcement officers presents a U.S. Supreme Court case that involved the investigatory stop of a vehicle and advice of police officers when dealing with the hearing impaired.
Abstract
The U.S. Supreme Court case presented is Alabama v. White. In this case the police stopped the respondent's vehicle based on an anonymous telephone tip. The issue considered by the U.S. Supreme Court was whether the tip, as corroborated by independent police work, exhibited sufficient indicia of reliability to provide reasonable suspicion to make the investigatory stop. The Court determined that the significant fact in the case was the anonymous tipster's ability to predict the respondent's future behavior, since its reliability as determined by the police officers demonstrated a special familiarity with the respondent's affairs. This suggested that knowledge of the respondent's illegal activities would also be reliable. The Court concluded that the anonymous tip, as corroborated, exhibited sufficient indicia of reliability to justify the investigatory stop of the respondent's car. The legal commentary on the case outlines principles for police to follow in acting upon informant tips. Suggestions for police in dealing with hearing-impaired individuals include the use of writing to communicate and the need to inform the hearing-impaired person of the reasons for all the officer's actions.