Anonymous Tips

Defendant appealed the decision of the Appeals Panel sustaining the violation of R.I.G.L. 1956 § 31-27-2.1 (refusal to submit to a chemical test).  Defendant argued that the officer did not meet the Fourth Amendment’s reasonable suspicion standard necessary for a stop because the defendant was stopped based solely on a face-to-face anonymous tip that the defendant was drunk and had been involved in an accident without the officer corroborating any of the information before conducting the stop.  The District Court held that face-to-face anonymous tips must be evaluated for reasonable suspicion on an individual case basis and viewed in a light of the qualities of “veracity,” “basis of knowledge,” and “reliability.”  Given the totality of the circumstances the officer had reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant based on the information provided to him by the tipster because the tipster had a basis of knowledge, as he was connected to the incident both temporally and geographically, the tipster’s veracity was subject to the officer’s evaluation because he was able to observe the tipster’s behavior, and the tipster placed his identity at risk, which contributed to the reliability of the information.  Accordingly, the Court held that the officer’s stop of the defendant was reasonable and sustained the violation.  

Mark Kemp v. State of Rhode Island, A.A. No. 11-0055 (September 29, 2011).pdf