Fallschirjmäger
Active member
Except, we don't know that the tip was anonymous. It's possible who ever called gave their name and number.
I must disagree, even if the caller identified himself as Stanley T. Wojciehowicz @ 718 555-1212, it would not have established any reputation of reliability from the name alone.
"... In the instant case, the officers' suspicion that J. L. was carrying a weapon arose not from any observations of their own but solely from a call made from an unknown location by an unknown caller. Unlike a tip from a known informant whose reputation can be assessed and who can be held responsible if her allegations turn out to be fabricated, see Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 146-147 (1972), "an anonymous tip alone seldom demonstrates the informant's basis of knowledge or veracity," Alabama v. White, 496 U.S., at 329. As we have recognized, however, there are situations in which an anonymous tip, suitably corroborated, exhibits "sufficient indicia of reliability to provide reasonable suspicion to make the investigatory stop." Id., at 327. The question we here confront is whether the tip pointing to J. L. had those indicia of reliability.
In White, the police received an anonymous tip asserting that a woman was carrying cocaine and predicting that she would--
-- leave an apartment building at a specified time,
-- get into a car matching a particular description, and
-- drive to a named motel. Ibid.
Standing alone, the tip would not have justified a Terry stop. Id., at 329. Only after police observation showed that the informant had accurately predicted the woman's movements, we explained, did it become reasonable to think the tipster had inside knowledge about the suspect and therefore to credit his assertion about the cocaine. Id., at 332..."