NCJ Number
130367
Journal
Crime to Court Dated: (May 1991) Pages: 5-12
Date Published
1991
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The question of whether a person, stopped for a traffic violation and nothing more, can be further detained and subjected to questions unrelated to the traffic stop is examined.
Abstract
In order to justify a defendant's continued detention, an officer must have a reasonable suspicion that the stopped vehicle is carrying contraband or that a detained defendant has committed a crime. In court, it must be determined whether the initial stop was constitutional. If it was constitutional, the court must next consider the detention and search that followed and determine "whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." In the case, United States v. Walker, U.S. District Court (Utah), 1990, the issue was whether, prior to asking questions unrelated to the traffic stop, the officer had a "reasonable suspicion of illegal transactions in drugs or of any other serious crime" which justified further detention of the defendant. The prosecution relied on the defendant's nervousness and the registration in a name other than his own as the basis for continued detention and questioning. The court determined that the detention was unreasonable because it extended beyond the scope justified by the original traffic stop.