What does a "stop and frisk" procedure require from the officer?

A "stop and frisk" procedure necessitates that an officer possesses reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before taking action. This legal standard allows officers to stop and briefly detain an individual based on specific and articulable facts indicating that the person may be involved in criminal behavior. The reasonable suspicion must be grounded in the officer's observations, experience, and any relevant circumstances they are handling at the moment.

The principle behind reasonable suspicion is to balance the need for law enforcement to act on potential threats to public safety with the rights of individuals to be free from arbitrary stops. This means that the officer must have more than just a vague hunch; there must be specific facts that raise an inference of illegal activity.

In this context, the other options do not meet the legal threshold required for a "stop and frisk." Visual observation alone lacks the necessary depth of evidence that reasonable suspicion demands. Likewise, simply having evidence of a weapon or requiring explicit permission from the individual does not apply to the procedure, since the officer is not obligated to prove that a weapon exists before initiating the stop and frisk nor are they required to seek the individual’s consent beforehand. The crux of the process is rooted in the officer's assessment of the situation leading to the reasonable suspicion of potential criminal