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https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/09/us/yale-student-napping-black-trnd/index.html

From what I've read, Connecticut is not a stop and identify state.

However, I understand that people are required to identify if police have a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, is being committed, or is about to be committed (but if there is no such suspicion, they are not required to identify even in stop and identify states)

But does it qualify as reasonable suspicion that another student called police and said Siyonbola "appeared they weren’t … where they were supposed to be"?

And if so, what laws might be put into place to protect individuals from situations like this where someone makes a prejudiced police complaint against them?

Andy
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2 Answers2

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Since the incident was on private property (inside a building), a person does not have the same right to be there that you would have on the street outside the building. Yale police therefore can legally make a determination whether a person is trespassing (for example, by asking for identification), especially when there is an allegation that a person is trespassing. A law holding a person criminally or civilly liable for reporting their "suspicions" to the government without e.g. "reasonable suspicion" could easily run afoul of the First Amendment.

user6726
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  • Assuming good faith suspicions rather than false and slanderous suspicions? They wold not have 1st amendment protection, I assume. – George White Sep 16 '21 at 02:05
  • FWIW, I was imagining some other kind of standard for determining if the suspicion is reasonable, like a requirement that police try to corroborate a trespass suspicion with other residents of the property if any are present, before asking for ID. But I am certainly no lawyer – Andy Sep 16 '21 at 16:55
  • This also makes me wonder at what point repeated reports to police would be considered some kind of harassment? – Andy Sep 16 '21 at 16:59
  • The relevant legal distinction is between false reports vs. being annoying. Being annoying is legal, making a false report is not. Being factually mistaken is not the same as knowingly making a false statement, which is the essence of the laws against false reports to police. In the face of n allegation of trespassing, there is a reasonable suspicion, which is dispelled by asking for evidence of a right to be there. – user6726 Sep 16 '21 at 17:33
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Yale University is private property. The Yale Police Department and administrators can ask anyone at anytime to identify themselves.

The police responded to a complaint; they can't evaluate a complaint for "reasonable suspicion" or lack thereof until they investigate and talk to all involved parties. The officers investigated and then "...admonished the student who called police, saying Siyonbola had every right to be present..."

Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart told CNN, “We believe the Yale police who responded followed procedures.”

"what laws might be put into place to protect individuals from situations like this..."

Again, Yale is private property.

BlueDogRanch
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