What does reasonable articulable suspicion allow law enforcement to do?

Reasonable articulable suspicion is a legal standard used in law enforcement that allows officers to stop and briefly detain a person or a vehicle for investigative purposes based on specific and articulable facts. This standard is less than the probable cause required for an arrest but greater than a mere hunch. When law enforcement establishes reasonable articulable suspicion, it enables them to conduct a lawful seizure under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

In practice, this means that if an officer observes behavior or circumstances that lead them to believe that criminal activity may be afoot, they have the authority to stop a vehicle to investigate further. This could involve asking for the driver's license, registration, and insurance, as well as questioning the driver about their activities.

In contrast, conducting a full search of a vehicle or making an arrest without a warrant necessitates higher standards of probable cause, which is not met simply by having reasonable articulable suspicion. Additionally, random checks on all vehicles are typically not permissible under the Fourth Amendment without specific criteria being met. Hence, the correct answer about what reasonable articulable suspicion allows law enforcement to do is to make a lawful Fourth Amendment seizure by stopping a vehicle.