Florida DUI Law by Blake Mevis: Initial Police and Driver Contact

"Police officer who stopped defendant's vehicle for speeding had reasonable suspicion of a driving under the influence (DUI) violation, so as to justify field sobriety testing; officer smelled alcohol and observed defendant's glassy, bloodshot eyes when he approached defendant to issue a citation for speeding, and officer observed that defendant's eyes were jerky and bouncy, and concluded that defendant had consumed "quite a bit" of alcohol, after performing a horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test."

Safety of Vehicle; Inspection Stops. What constitutes reasonable suspicion to justify an inspection stop.

"a legitimate concern for the safety of the motoring public can warrant a brief investigatory stop to determine whether a driver is driving under the influence in situations less suspicious than that required for other types of criminal behavior. In determining whether such an investigatory stop was justified, courts must look to the totality of the circumstances."

"The police may not make traffic stops based on hunches or 'bare' suspicions. As such, a police officer is justified in making a stop only when the officer has a reasonable suspicion that is based on factual foundations."

"To make a lawful traffic stop for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, an officer must have a reasonable suspicion that the driver is impaired"

Reasonable Suspicion Defined
"To conduct a lawful investigatory stop or detention, a police officer must have an articulable, reasonable suspicion that the subject detained has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime. Reasonable suspicion, like probable cause, is dependent upon both the content of information possessed by police and its degree of reliability. Reasonable suspicion must be articulable and based upon objective facts. The determination of reasonable suspicion that a person is committing a crime must be based on commonsense judgments and inferences about human behavior."

§ 885. Generally; anonymous tipster
Because an anonymous caller's basis of knowledge and veracity are typically unknown, these tips justify a stop only once they are sufficiently corroborated by the police.