The Standards of Suspicion (1)

On the front of the room was a tall dark oak podium with a 5-pointed star engraved on it. Behind the podium were 3 glass windows, looking upon the sea of occupied tables and benches perfectly placed in horizontal order, with 4 columns and 4 rows, each holding 2 people on them.

The walls were visibly made of polished stone, painted in pearl white. The clean floor was made of dark oak wood planks, the same used for the tables and chairs they sat on. The room was well-lit by the sun's rays entering through the front and the right wall.

Seated on the benches themselves were the recruits, all wearing their normal commoner clothing. Oddly enough, instead of the sound of chatter, there was a strange silence in the room as everyone waited patiently for their instructor to arrive.

Though their mouths seemed to be glued shut, the recruits made all sorts of other noises using their fingers and feet as they wait. Some tapped the table with their fingers, making a repeating rhythm, while others kept lightly tapping the wooden floor with their brown calfskin shoes on.

Ridge Myers was sitting on a wooden bench at the back of the room with Siphon, with both hands resting on the desktop. Both were silent and patient with their instructor arrived. His sharp ice-blue eyes kept focused on the podium.

Just then, the dark oak door on the top left corner of the room opened, revealing Kristina herself, holding a stack of beige papers. Everyone stood up as soon as Kristina walked in, as per protocol. Kristina was wearing her gray uniform, with a purple skirt covering her kneecaps.

She walks up to the podium and looks around the room with her sharp green eyes. In her head, she counted everyone who remained from memory. While some appeared to have left the recruitment, most of them had stayed. She smiled, seeing their determination still standing after a long time.

"For the men that remain, congratulations. You appear to have the determination and willpower to continue through this training process.

However today is not a day of training, but a day of learning. In this room, you will acquire the knowledge you will need to be the ideal officer that the people can trust to protect them from dangerous criminals." she proclaimed. The policemen recruits were all silent.

"Do you all understand?" she asked.

"Ma'am yes ma'am!" they said out loud.

"Good. Now our first topic today would be the 'standards of suspicion'." she said. Kristina coughed twice and took a glimpse at the papers she placed on the podium before continuing.

"As you are being recruited to protect the people, there will be high expectations placed by the public and the palace for soon-to-be officers such as yourselves to act responsibly and legally while upholding the law and preventing crime.

However, to intervene in a possible crime being taking place, you need to suspect that there is a crime being taken place. To that, there are 5 standards you need to follow." Kristina held up her left hand, closed in a fist.

As she started to state the 5 standards, she lifts each finger, starting from her thumb to her pinky finger.

"First is 'Reasonable suspicion', next is 'probable cause', after that, 'preponderance of the evidence', with the fourth and final being 'reasonable likelihood of conviction' and 'beyond a reasonable doubt'."

She brings down her left hand and raises her right hand.

"Now tell me. What are the 5 standards of suspicion?" she asked. They all rose their hands. She instructed every one of them to stand up and answer themselves. Although they all gave a variation of what she said, it was clear that they understood it, and that was good enough.

"Very good. Today, we will explore the first standard of suspicion; 'reasonable suspicion'. Reasonable suspicion is the belief that a crime may have occurred OR a specific individual may have been involved in a crime.

Reasonable suspicion CAN NOT, however, be a hunch and MUST be supported by articulable evidence to be... reasonable. Got it?"

"Yes Ma'am!" they all said.

"Moving on. When deciding on whether reasonable suspicion exists in a situation, you all must consider the totality of that existence. For example the suspect's behavior or the location in which contact occurred.

You can also consider an individual meeting a suspect's description by any witnesses. It can also apply to reasonable suspicion. You are authorized to stop someone for an investigation whenever a crime occurred when they have reasonable suspicion.

In summary, reasonable suspicion allows an officer to briefly detain someone to investigate further. However, reasonable suspicion alone is NOT enough to make an arrest or convict someone for a crime." she said.

"Now, do you all remember what I just said?" Kristina asked the recruits. They all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Alright then, I will ask some of you questions. Starting with you!" she pointed out to one of the recruits. One by one, she asked the recruits a simple question, in which they managed to answer. Kristina eventually pointed at Ridge, to ask him a question as well.

"What is the scope of 'reasonable suspicion?'" she asked Ridge. The man stood up and took a deep breath before he answered.

"The scope of 'reasonable suspicion' is defined as the limits of what does and does not count as reasonable suspicion and the powers it grants an officer.

Reasonable suspicion is a justifiable suspicion based on facts and circumstances that allows officers to stop and search a person thought to be involved in criminal activity at the time. It does not however merit an arrest of the suspect alone." Ridge answered.

"Well done Mr. Myers. Sit down," she replied.

"And that concludes reasonable suspicion. We will now move on about 'probable cause' which is different from 'reasonable suspicion', along with the other standards." she replied. The recruits sat straighter, ready to listen to what she had to say.