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Bloomingdale v. State1/2/2004
scribing three alternative "endings" to an officer's attempt to corroborate an erratic driving tip by following the vehicle).
FN48. Wheat, 278 F.3d at 736-37.
The great risk of harm and few investigatory options in erratic driving cases outweigh the relatively less invasive nature of a traffic stop as compared with a public body frisk. Numerous courts have recognized the comparatively less intrusive nature of a traffic stop. [FN49] Given this balance, law enforcement officers should be permitted to draw all reasonable inferences from *1222 a contemporaneous report of erratic driving that by its nature tends to lend reliability to the report. One of those inferences will frequently be the conclusion that the tipster has knowledge of the criminal activity because she has observed its effects first-hand.
FN49. See, e.g., Mich. Dep't of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 451, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990) (depicting the intrusion on motorists' liberty when stopped at a sobriety checkpoint as "slight"); Wheat, 278 F.3d at 737 ("[W]e think that such [traffic stops based on anonymous tips of drunk driving] are considerably less invasive, both physically and psychologically, than the frisk on a public corner that was at issue in J.L." ); Boyea, 765 A.2d at 868 (contrasting "the police search and seizure of the person in J.L." with the comparatively minor
intrusion in DUI cases, "consist[ing] of a simple motor vehicle stop, 'a temporary and brief detention that is exposed to public view' " (quoting State v. Zumbo, 157 Vt. 589, 601 A.2d 986, 988 (1991))).
To support reasonable suspicion for a Terry stop, anonymous tips normally should provide sufficient information, such as an accurate description of the vehicle, its license tag number, its location and direction of travel, or other details, to enable the officer to be certain she has identified the correct vehicle. In addition, if the time period between the receipt of the tip and the officer's location of the vehicle is brief, the information's reliability is enhanced. The tip also must provide sufficient information to support the inference that the informant has actually witnessed a traffic violation that warrants an immediate stop. [FN50]
FN50. Cf. Wheat, 278 F.3d at 732 (providing examples).
Here, once Bloomingdale stopped his car, Chief Capriglione quickly developed reasonable suspicion supporting his administration of sobriety tests. He smelled alcohol emanating from the vehicle, he observed empty alcohol containers in the car, and Bloomingdale admitted that he had been drinking. Because the initial stop was based on a tip that provided a sufficient quality and quantity of information to give rise to reasonable suspicion, the police stop was valid.
Conclusion
Our holding today permits an officer to make an initial, brief, investigatory stop based on an anonymous tip of erratic driving, if the tip has the indicia of reliability discussed here. It does not mean that the officer can go further and require a sobriety test in the absence of additional evidence that provides a reasonable basis for that action. It simply means that the officer ought to be able to make a brief stop to inquire about the driver's fitness to operate a vehicle, given the public interest in ensuring that unsafe drivers be taken off the road promptly. Accordingly, the judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED.
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