Does having a hunch or gut feeling qualify as reasonable suspicion in policing?

In policing, reasonable suspicion requires more than just a hunch or gut feeling. While officers may rely on their instincts based on training and experience, these feelings must be backed by specific, articulable facts that can justify a stop or investigative detention. The Fourth Amendment protects individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures, so a mere intuition without any concrete basis cannot meet the legal standard for reasonable suspicion.

This standard ensures that actions taken by law enforcement are grounded in observable phenomena rather than arbitrary or subjective feelings. For reasonable suspicion to be established, there must be an objective basis for the officer's belief that a crime is occurring or about to occur, which goes beyond intuition alone. As a result, the assertion that a gut feeling qualifies as reasonable suspicion without supporting facts is incorrect.