McChesney v. State10/20/1999
State, 698 P.2d 107, 109 (Wyo. 1985) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1880); Wilson v. State, 874 P.2d at 220.
Reasonable suspicion, like probable cause, is dependent upon both the content of information possessed by police and its degree of reliability. Both factorsCquantity and qualityCare considered in the Atotality of the circumstancesCthe whole picture,@ United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 695, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981), that must be taken into account when evaluating whether there is reasonable suspicion. Thus, if a tip has a relatively low degree of reliability, more information will be required to establish the requisite quantum of suspicion than would be required if the tip were more reliable. The [Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)] Court applied its totality of the circumstances approach in this manner, taking into account the facts known to the officers from personal observation, and giving the anonymous tip the weight it deserved in light of its indicia of reliability as established through independent police work. The same approach applies in the reasonable suspicion context, the only difference being the level of suspicion that must be established. Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 330-31, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 2416, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990).
An anonymous informant=s tip, if it carries enough indicia of reliability, may provide reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop. See Goettl v. State, 842 P.2d 549, 555 (Wyo. 1992). The leading case in this area is Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412. There, an anonymous caller informed the police that AVanessa White would be leaving 235-C Lynwood Terrace Apartments at a particular time in a brown Plymouth station wagon with the right taillight lens broken, that she would be going to Dobey=s Motel , and that she would be in possession of about an ounce of cocaine inside a brown attaché case.@ 496 U.S. at 327, 110 S.Ct. at 2414. Police officers followed Ms. White and stopped her just short of Dobey=s Motel. Id. In holding that the police officers had reasonable suspicion to stop Ms. White, the Court placed special emphasis on the tipster=s prediction of future behavior:
We think it also important that, as in Gates, Athe anonymous contained a range of details relating not just to easily obtained facts and conditions existing at the time of the tip, but to future actions of third parties ordinarily not easily predicted.@ [Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S.] at 245, 103 S.Ct., at 2335-36.
The fact that the officers found a car precisely matching the caller=s description in front of the 235 building is an example of the former. Anyone could have Apredicted@ that fact because it was a condition presumably existing at the time of the call. What was important was the caller=s ability to predict respondent=s future behavior, because it demonstrated inside informationCa special familiarity with respondent=s affairs. The general public would have had no way of knowing that respondent would shortly leave the building, get in the described car, and drive the most direct route to Dobey=s Motel . Because only a small number of people are generally privy to an individual=s itinerary, it is reasonable for police to believe that a person with access to such information is likely to also have access to reliable information about that individual=s illegal activities. 496 U.S. at 332, 110 S.Ct. at 2417.
Here, we have the classic anonymous tipCan unidentified voice on the telephone. Because an anonymous tipster=s basis of knowledge and veracity are typically unknown, anonymous tips are considered less reliable. Kaysville City v. Mulcahy, 943 P.2d 231, 23
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