Court on Anonymous 911

Another ruling on the usefulness of 911 calls, this time from the California Supreme Court, which ruled that an anonymous 911 call reporting a possibly DUI vehicle is sufficient to justify a law enforcement officer to stop the vehicle. In this case, the caller gave a dispatcher the vehicle’s year and description, and a CHP officer spotted the vehicle in a location suggsting it was the same vehicle. The officer, without observing any swerving or other DUI indications, stopped the vehicle and arrested the driver, whose blood later tested positive for THC, cocaine and opiates. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that the state’s “reasonable suspicion” standard was met by the 911 caller, and there was potential danger to the public from the reported driver. Download (pdf) the decision here. [previous case]