"Courts can point to many different totality of circumstances that allow for officers to have reasonable suspicion to pull people over, Lambright said. It's really troubling, and I think you're going to see officers pull people over based on tips that they otherwise would not have when they have not established the reliability or credibility of the tip or tipster."
"I have worries that this is the start of New York courts stepping back from our more protective standards that we've had for so long, Hammond-Oakley said. Totality of circumstances is an incredibly mushy, squishy test that can be satisfied by cherry picking whatever information supports your argumentIt encourages inconsistent decisions and gives a lot more leeway to police. Lambright and Hammond-Oakley said they feared the decision would increase police stops, the likelihood of police racially profiling people."
The Court of Appeals ruled 5-2 that anonymous phone tips claiming personal knowledge of a crime can provide sufficient basis for police to conduct vehicle stops. The ruling adopts a totality-of-circumstances standard similar to the federal test, allowing officers to act without specific verification of tip reliability. The change reduces Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure by expanding the circumstances that can supply reasonable suspicion. The totality test is vague and can be satisfied by selective facts, increasing judicial inconsistency and police discretion. The ruling risks more stops, greater potential for racial profiling, and malicious use of anonymous tips to target individuals.
Read at www.amny.com
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