What must officers have before initiating a traffic stop?

Before initiating a traffic stop, officers must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause. This standard is essential because it ensures that law enforcement officers have a legitimate reason to believe that a driver has violated the law or is engaged in suspicious activity.

Reasonable suspicion allows officers to stop a vehicle if they observe specific, articulable facts that suggest unlawful activity is occurring. This can include witnessing a traffic violation, erratic driving behavior, or other indicators that raise concern for officer safety or public safety.

Probable cause, on the other hand, is a higher standard typically required before making an arrest or conducting a search, but it can also apply to traffic stops if sufficient evidence indicates that a criminal act has occurred. Both of these standards are founded in the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, thereby requiring that law enforcement acts on more than mere intuition or hunches.

The other choices do not meet the legal standard required for initiating a traffic stop. For example, having evidence of a previous crime does not provide a basis for stopping a current vehicle unless it directly pertains to the vehicle or its driver. A witness statement can be useful but is not a necessary requirement for making a stop. Similarly, a search warrant is unrelated to the decision to