OPINION
{1} Defendant, Julian Ochoa, has appealed a district court decision denying his motion to suppress evidence discovered after Defendant was stopped for a seatbelt violation then arrested on outstanding warrants. Defendant argued to the district court that the stop was pretextual because the officer who reported the seatbelt violation wanted Defendant stopped so the officer could question Defendant in relation to a drug trafficking investigation. Defendant asserted that article II, section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution prohibits pretextual stops. The Court of Appeals reversed the district court on other grounds, holding that the stop violated New Mexico’s misdemeanor arrest rule because the violation did not occur in the presence of the officer who stopped Defendant. State v. Ochoa,
FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW
{2} During a drug trafficking investigation, Agent Edmondson, an officer with the Drug Task Force, saw an unfamiliar vehicle parked at the residence of a suspected drug trafficker. The agent returned several times to check on the vehicle. During one of these checks the agent saw the vehicle driving away from the residence. The agent testified that the driver was not wearing a seat-belt.
{3} Agent Edmondson testified he wanted to identify and question the driver. So, he radioed a uniformed officer, Officer Martinez, to see if the officer could stop the vehiclе. Officer Martinez testified that Agent Edmondson told him “there was a black utility vehicle heading north on 7th and the driver wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.”
{4} Based on Agent Edmondson’s information, Officer Martinez located and followed the vehicle. The officer testified that he could not see from behind the vehicle whether the driver was wearing a seatbelt because the еar had tinted windows. The officer followed for a short distance then stopped and approached the vehicle. The driver’s side window was down and the officer immediately recognized the driver as Defendant, whom the officer knew had outstanding warrants for his arrest. Officer Martinez testified that he did not recall whether Defendant was wearing a seatbelt.
{5} Officer Martinez confirmed the warrants, arrested Defendant, then placed him in the officer’s patrol car. Meanwhile, Agent Edmondson and two other officers arrived. Agent Edmondson spoke with Defendant. Defendant gave the agent consent to search the vehicle and told the agent there was a pipe and methamphetamine in the vеhicle. The officers found the pipe and, with Defendant’s help, the methamphetamine. Officer Martinez also conducted an inventory search and found a handgun. Defendant was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
{6} Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence arising from the traffiс stop alleged that the vehicle search was in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article II, section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution. At the hearing on the motion, Defendant argued that the stop was pretextual because Agent Edmondson’s motivation in reporting the seatbelt violation was to give the agent an opрortunity to identify and question Defendant. Defendant argued that — although the Fourth Amendment permits pretextual stops that are otherwise reasonable — article II, section 10 prohibits pretextual stops.
{7} Ruling from the bench, the court held that an officer may act upon information from another officer to enforce traffic laws. The Court found that thе information from Agent Edmondson was reliable, and Officer Martinez had reasonable suspicion to stop Defendant’s vehicle based on that information. The judge left open the question of whether the stop was invalid as pretextual under the New Mexico Constitution, stating,
I think we have got a fact situation tied up and articulated so that the Supreme Court can make that decision whether Officer Agent Edmondson can radio to another car that he is observing a violation and ask the violator be stopped with reason he would like to understand or find out who the violator is or who the operator is, or who is in the car to ask about the circumstances that had just gone on at the residence.
Defendant entered a-conditional guilty plea and appealed the district court’s decision to the Court of Appeals.
{8} The Court of Appeals reversed the district court on other grounds, holding that the stop violated the misdemeanor arrest rule. The Court stated that “[sjince a seat-belt violation is a misdemeanor, our misdemeanor arrest rule requires that the offense be committed in the officer’s presence to justify a warrantless arrest for its violation.” Id. ¶ 8. The Court further held that, in the present case, the seatbelt violation was not committed in Officer Martinez’s presence, and no exception to the presence requirement was applicable, therefore the stop was unreasonable. Id. ¶¶ 10, 14. The Court did not address whether the stop was pretextual or whether article II, section 10 prohibits pretextual stops.
DISCUSSION
{9} We review the Court of Appeals’ opinion in two steps. We first review the Court of Appeals’ reliance on the misdemeanor arrest rule. Then we analyze the reasonableness of the traffic stop. Because we are remanding this case to the Court of Appeals, we will not address the issue of pretextual stops in this opinion.
I. The Misdemeanor Arrest Rule Does Not Apply to Investigatory Stops
{10} Whether the Court of Appeals properly relied on the misdemeanor arrest rule requires interpretation of established case law. The application and interpretation of law is subject to a de novo review. See State v. Rowell,
{11} The misdemeanor arrest rule is a holdover from the common law distinction between warrantless arrests for felonies and for misdemeanors. The common law rule stated that “ ‘a constable cannot arrest, but when he sees an actual brеach of the peace; and if the affray be over, he cannot arrest.’ ” William A. Schroeder, Warrantless Misdemeanor Arrests and the Fourth Amendment, 50 Mo. L.Rev. 771, 788 (1993) (quoting Regina v. Tooley, 2 Lord Raymond 1296, 1301, 92 Eng. Rep. 349, 352 (1710)). As the rule was adopted in New Mexico the strict common law limitations on officers were broadened, such that “the power to arrest for misdemeanors, not breaches or threatened breaches of the peace, has come into being,” and the requirement that the officer see the misdemeanor was interpreted to permit warrant-less misdemeanor arrests if the officer has probable cause to believe that a misdemeanor was committed in the officer’s presеnce. Cave v. Cooley,
{12} Over time, the common law rule has been further limited by both the legislature and the courts. The legislature has created specific exceptions to the “presence” requirement. See, e.g., NMSA 1978, § 66-8-125(B) (1978) (permitting officers in specific circumstances to make a warrantless arrest if “the arresting officer [has] reasonable grounds, bаsed on personal investigation which may include information from eyewitnesses, to believe the person arrested has committed a crime”); NMSA 1978, § 31-1-7(A) (1979) (“Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, a peace officer may arrest a person and take that person into custody without a warrant when the officer is at the scenе of a domestic disturbance and has probable cause to believe that the person has committed an assault or a battery upon a household member.”). Similarly, New Mexico courts have limited the scope of the misdemeanor arrest rule with the police-team exception to the “presence” requirement. See State v. Lyon,
{13} The Court of Appeals’ opinion equated the investigatory traffic stop in the present case with a warrantless, custodial arrest. We disagree. For the рurposes of the misdemeanor arrest rule, an investigatory stop is distinct from a custodial arrest.
{14} An investigatory stop occurs when an officer briefly detains and investigates a person based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. State v. Wilson,
Except as provided in Section 66-8-122 NMSA 1978, unless a penalty assessment or warning notice is given, whenever a person is arrested for any violation of the Motor Vehicle Code or other law relating to motor vehicles punishable as a misdemeanor, the arresting officer, using the uniform traffic citation, shall complete the information section and prepare a notice to appear in court, specifying the time and place to appear, have the arrested person sign the agreement to appear as specified, give a copy of the citation to the arrested person and release him from custody.
Section 66-8-123(A). In State v. Bricker,
{15} Applying the misdemeanor arrest rule to these facts would unnecessarily raise the burden on officers for initiating investigatory traffic stops. We have held that to conduct an investigatory stop an officer must be able to point to specific articulable facts “ ‘that, when judged objectively, would lead a reasonable person to believe criminal activity occurred or was occurring.’ ” State v. Vandenberg,
II. The Stop Was Reasonable Under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
{16} We next review the reasonableness of the stop under the Fourth Amendment. This issue is a mixed question of law аnd fact. State v. Neal,
{17} The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, and its protections extend to investigatory stops that fall short of custodial arrests. United States v. Arvizu,
{18} In this case, the scope of the officers’ conduct was reasonable given the totality оf the circumstances. Upon stopping the vehicle, Officer Martinez immediately recognized Defendant and knew that Defendant had outstanding warrants for his arrest. After confirming the warrants, the officer properly placed Defendant under arrest, at which time Defendant gave consent to search the vehicle. Cf. Neal,
{19} A stop is justified at its inception if the officer making the stop had a reasonable suspicion that a crime had been or was being committed. Vandenberg,
{20} When these specific articulable facts originate from a third-party, then whether the stop was justified depends on the third-party’s reliability as the source of such information. Where the third-рarty is a known, reliable source of information, an officer may reasonably rely on that information. See State v. Pallor,
{21} In this ease, whether Officer Martinez acted reasonably depends on Agent Edmondson’s reliability when he reported the seatbelt violation to Officer Martinez. We find that generally, an officer may reasonably rely on information from another officer that a crime has been or is being committed. Moreover, Agent Edmondson’s information was reliable because Officer Martinez personаlly confirmed Agent Edmondson’s description of Defendant’s vehicle and its direction of travel. Therefore, Officer Martinez acted reasonably and the stop was justified under the Fourth Amendment.
CONCLUSION
{22} We hold that the misdemeanor arrest rule does not apply to investigatory stops. We further hold that, under the Fourth Amendment, the stop was reasonable because an officer may reasonably rely on information from another officer that a crime has been or is being committed. Because the Court of Appeals improperly relied on New Mexico’s misdemeanor arrest rule, we reverse the Court of Appeals opinion and remand to the Court of Appeals to determine whether the stop was pretextual and, if so, whether article II, section 10 prohibits pretextual stops.
{23} IT IS SO ORDERED.