Résumé
Most police activity occurs in private, away from the public's view. This creates a situation that allows police officers discretion in the way they think about what they see and how they handle those with whom they come in contact. There has been an effort by the research community to examine issues concerning how police act and respond in general and what police do specifically when they interact with citizens. A conspicuous void in the research effort has been the lack of attention paid to the process by which police officers form suspicion about a suspect whether or not a formal intervention such as a stop was made. Officers in Savannah, Georgia were observed and debriefed after they became suspicious about an individual or vehicle. Observers accompanied officers on 132, 8-hour shifts, during which time, the officers formed suspicion 174 times. AForming suspicion@ occurred any time an officer became doubting, distrustful or otherwise troubled or concerned about an individual. In most of the cases, it was the behavior of the suspect(s) that concerned the officer. This concern did not always result in a stop of an individual or vehicle. In some cases, the officers realized that their initial Asuspicion@ was unsupported. In fact, 103 stops resulted from the suspicions that were formed by the officers during the times they were observed. Several factors were significantly associated with the likelihood that an officer would make a stop based on suspicion. Interestingly, none of the characteristics of the suspect was important. In other words, officers were equally likely to stop individuals whether they were male or female, African-American or white, low or high socioeconomic status. The encounters were assessed by the interactions between the officers and suspects. Although most encounters went smoothly, some changed character based on the actions and attitudes of one or both of the actors.