The short, practical and honest answer......yes! Working the beat as a patrol officer and then in the traffic bureau for several years, traffic stops were my life. When there was a vehicle that was suspicious or the occupants seemed to be abnormally nervous, I knew it needed to be stopped. As police officers, we are trained to recognize abnormal behaviors which could potentially lead to something more severe, such as a criminal act. We are tasked with making sure we do everything in our power to identify and prevent crime from happening. So, when we see a vehicle that is suspicious and want to stop the car to dig deeper, we will find a reason to stop the vehicle. Wisconsin has a state statue section called, Trans305. This was one of my favorite legal sections, as it pertains to specifications of equipment on vehicles. Anything from placement and color of headlights, tinting, height of vehicle, how far tires can stick out from the fender and many other very specific laws. If I needed to stop a vehicle, I guarantee you I could find a Trans305 or moving traffic violation that would be applicable.
Now, having said that, law enforcement must have solid reason or suspicion to stop your vehicle. We can't just make something up. Our decision to stop might easily be tested in court by a judge or a jury. Our reason to stop must be within the scope of a violation of traffic law, equipment violation or "reasonable suspicion." A traffic law or equipment violation are pretty concrete, but what about this "reasonable suspicion?" If law enforcement observes a vehicle that is acting suspicious, beyond a reasonable doubt, they can stop the vehicle. The suspicion in court will be tested by what the average person would conclude under the same circumstances, with all the information that the police officer has.
Law enforcement officials are tasked with tremendous responsibility of protecting our communities. While many people feel that police officers stop people unnecessarily or without cause, 99% of law enforcement are doing what they are trained to do for the right reasons. In today's society, we need tools where we can prevent something bad happening before the act is carried out.
Just remember, a police officer might just stumble on a vehicle or person who is driving to a public location to open gun fire and kill people. Maybe the officer just happens to stop a very large transport of drugs that could end up in your kids hands. Maybe the traffic stop is a drunk driver, that if not stopped would have hit you head on a mile down the road and killed you. Law enforcement officials are doing good work to protect all of us and we need to understand and respect them and their invaluable work.
2 comments:
I am interested in your opinion here. I was at a little fire party that some locals were having, with music and some alcohol. I don't really look or act like most of the people in northern Wisconsin...but up here there isn't much else to do when you crave some music and dancing. Most of the people there were on snowmobile. I didn't drink excessively because I was trying to be a bit more resposible than i've been in the past. I left the party, in a rural area, and came to the stop sign at the highway. It was on a hill and I saw no headlights in either direction. I signalled and went on my way. By the time I turned and got my little 1995 Nissan up to 50 there were headlights closing in on me. Then came the bubbles. I pulled over and the officer began asking about how much I drank, etc. Gave me the tests, I failed. Blew a .133, and was arrested. Without consent, they searched my car and found about a gram of pot and a one-hitter. I had asked him immediately upon his inquisition what his reason for pulling me over was. He told me that he was posted with lights out because he heard a "tip" that there were underage drinkers at the party, it was on a dead end road. Thus, any car coming out of the road was deemed suspicious, based on a "tip." I'm 33, btw. I also asked him if I were swurving. He said no. I asked if I made any kind of violation, he said no. He repeated that his "reason" was the suspicious tip. I have no idea how old people were at this party, it was a group of fun lovin' people of all ages. Some were too young, but they were with their parents. What I would like to know is whether his pulling me over simply for exiting the road was enough justification. Any thoughts?
Benjamin,
"Suspicious activities" are a general term law enforcement uses to establish the grounds for inquiring. In your particular situation, I have a couple of thoughts. First, I am only responding based on your review of the situation. Many times, there are more factors to the incident than you may not remember. You have the right to get a copy of the police report of the incident which will lay out the facts in their entirety and the specific reason(s) for the stop.
Now, if I were to comment simply on the facts you provided, here are my thoughts. Without having any other reason, other than there was a possible party in the area, the stop might be more difficult to justify. Under State Statues and Wisconsin court cases, an officer has to have a reasonable suspicion that you have or will be committing a crime. Simply leaving an area that has a party would not necessarily justify that threshold, unless there were additional facts to this scenario.
Additionally, if the officer stopped you with no legal grounds, then everything else in the case would be thrown out, such as the results of your OWI tests and possession of drug and drug paraphernalia. But, that is only the case if the officer did not have the grounds to stop you in the first place.
Again, I would request a copy of the police report to determine exactly what the officer reported for the reason of the stop. You might just find that the officer observed a traffic violation or equipment violation with your vehicle. If either of those are true, then the stop would be legit.
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