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LODGE 7 LEGAL CORNER Meeting the standards for vehicle stops
DANIEL HERBERT
Traffic enforcement is a major responsibility of police departments across the state. Most departments of significant size will have dedicated units that specialize in handling traffic enforcement. However, to be effective, every officer working on the
streets should be well-versed in traffic laws and enforcement. More importantly, all officers should be knowledgeable about the intersection between investigatory vehicle stops based on traffic viola- tions and the accompanying legal standards
that justify a vehicle stop.
would allow for a vehicle stop under the Fourth Amendment. The facts in Hackett were quite simple and concerned the officer’s obser- vations of a driver who was seen to veer slightly outside the traffic lane while driving. The driver committed no other observable vio- lations. In the lower courts, the officer’s observation was considered to meet only a reasonable suspicion standard and not the probable cause standard. The issue then was whether Illinois law required the
more stringent probable cause standard for traffic stops.
The Hackett court unanimously held than an investigatory stop of a vehicle that did not require the probable cause stan- dard. The court first found that all investigatory stops of vehi- cles cause are subject to the Fourth Amendment’s “reasonableness requirement.” The court then stated that a vehicle stop will generally require probable cause to support an officer’s belief that a traffic violation occurred. However, the court held that the less exacting reasonable suspicion standard would also justify an investigative stop under the Fourth Amendment. As a result, under Illinois law, both probable cause and reasonable sus- picion are recognized legal standards that allow officers to conduct
investigative traffic stops.
Officers conducting investigatory street stops of individuals realize that reasonable suspicion most likely arises from a variety of factors the officer must be able to articulate. Officers conducting vehicle stops are still required to articulate the factors underlying
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If you think traffic enforcement is simple or boring and you
are hesitant to read any further, please try this exercise and consider your answer to the following scenario: Would an officer have reasonable suspicion to conduct a vehicle stop on a driver who, at 1 a.m., legally drove toward a police roadblock but just before coming within 50 feet of the roadblock conducted a legal U- turn and drove in the opposite direction?
All law enforcement officers should know that under Illinois law, investigatory vehicle stops can be conducted without violating the Fourth Amendment under not only the “probable cause” standard, but also under the less demanding “reasonable suspicion” standard. In People v. Hackett, a 2012 Illinois Supreme Court case, the court examined whether probable cause was the only legal standard that
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