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unreasonable searches and experience. Facts that appear innocent when
seizures, shall not be violated, and no viewed in isolation can constitute reasonable
Warrants shall issue, but suspicion when viewed collectively.
upon probable cause, supported by
Oath or affirmation, and A physical description of a suspect known to
particularly describing the place to be officers must be sufficiently specific and
searched, and the particularized to justify an investigatory stop.
persons or things to be seized. “Terry does not authorize broad dragnets . . . .
Without more, a description that applies to
The exclusionary rule, a judicially created large numbers of people will not justify the
deterrence measure, provides that evidence seizure of a particular individual.”
obtained by an unreasonable search or seizure
generally may not be used as evidence of guilt see also, Reid v. Georgia, 448 U.S. 438, 441
at trial. Warrantless searches and seizures are (1980) (rejecting justification that would
per se unreasonable subject to certain narrow “describe a very large category of presumably
exceptions. The government bears the burden innocent” persons).
of showing an exception applies.
A general, imprecise physical description of a
One exception permits officers to conduct suspect, standing alone, is insufficient to
brief investigatory stops based on reasonable support reasonable suspicion.
suspicion that the person is engaged in
criminal activity or wanted in connection with For example, in United States v. Jones, 619
a completed felony. A seizure “must be F.2d 494, 496, 498 (5th Cir. 1980), an officer
‘justified at its inception.’” Reasonable stopped a man matching “the general
suspicion therefore “must exist before the description that he had heard over the police
initiation of an investigatory detention.” radio the day before” of “a black male, 5 feet
6 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall andweighing
Reasonable suspicion “is a low threshold, between 150 and 180 pounds, with a medium
requiring” only a “minimal level of objective afro hair style, who was wearing jeans and a
justification.” But it “must be founded on long denim jacket.” (The information reported
specific and articulable facts rather than on a by the police radio was in fact five weeks old.
mere suspicion or ‘hunch.’” Reasonable See id. at 496.) We found no reasonable
suspicion “takes into account the totality of the suspicion because the officer “acted on the
circumstances— the whole picture.” basis of an incomplete and stale description of
a suspect that could, plainly, have fit many
“Whether an officer has reasonable suspicion people.” Id. at 498. Similarly, in United States
to stop is answered from the facts known to the v. Rias, 524 F.2d 118, 119 (5th Cir. 1975),
officer at the time.” Relevant facts and an officer stopped two black males in a black
considerations may include a description of a Chevrolet, knowing that “two black males in a
suspect, a suspect’s location and proximity to black or blue Chevrolet were suspects in a
known or reported criminal activity, the series of Farm Store robberies” a few weeks
timeliness of information or the stop, a prior. We held the facts “clearly did not rise to
suspect’s behavior, and the officer’s the required level, and in reality were so
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