Page 23 - May June 2020 TPA Journal

On appeal, Smith makes three primary vehicle’s occupants to verify the information
arguments.3 First, he argues that Officer Solomon provided by the driver.” There is no hard-and-fast
unreasonably extended the traffic stop by time limit for “reasonable” traffic stops. Rather,
continuing to question Smith and his passengers the stop “must be temporary and last no longer
beyond 6:04 p.m., the point at which Smith than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the
believes the stop reasonably should have been stop.” “[T]he tolerable duration of police
completed. Second, Smith contends that, even if inquiries in the traffic-stop context is determined
the stop could reasonably have been extended by the seizure’s ‘mission’—to address the traffic
beyond 6:04 p.m., by 6:12 p.m. it is clear that violation that warranted the stop and attend to
Solomon had no further reasonable suspicion that related safety concerns.” “Authority for the
could support a further extension of the stop and seizure . . . ends when tasks tied to the traffic
the ensuing narcotics investigation. Finally, Smith infraction are—or reasonably should have been—
believes that Solomon unreasonably extended the completed.” “If the officer develops reasonable
stop by waiting approximately ten minutes to suspicion of additional criminal activity during his
deploy Krash after he began the narcotics investigation of the circumstances that originally
investigation. For the reasons we discuss below, caused the stop, he may further detain its
none of these arguments is persuasive. We set occupants for a reasonable time while
forth the applicable Fourth Amendment principles appropriately attempting to dispel this reasonable
before addressing each of Smith’s arguments in suspicion.” “[R]easonable suspicion exists when
turn. the officer can point to specific and articulable
facts which, taken together with rational
A Fourth Amendment “seizure” occurs when an inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant
officer stops a vehicle and detains its occupants. the search and seizure.” “Reasonable suspicion is
“We analyze the legality of traffic stops for Fourth a low threshold” and requires only “some minimal
Amendment purposes under the standard level of objective justification.” Reasonable
articulated by the Supreme Court in Terry v. suspicion demands something more than a “mere
Ohio…” This involves two steps. First, we ‘hunch’” but “‘considerably less than proof of
determine whether the stop was justified at its wrongdoing by a preponderance of the evidence,’
inception. “For a traffic stop to be justified at its and ‘obviously less’ than is necessary for probable
inception, an officer must have an objectively cause.” Our inquiry views “the totality of the
reasonable suspicion that some sort of illegal circumstances and the collective knowledge and
activity, such as a traffic violation, occurred, or is experience of the officer.” We give due weight to
about to occur, before stopping the vehicle.” the officer’s factual inferences because officers
Second, if the stop was justified, we ask whether may “draw on their own experience and
“the officer’s subsequent actions were reasonably specialized training to make inferences from and
related in scope to the circumstances that caused deductions about the cumulative information
him to stop the vehicle in the first place.” “A available to them that ‘might well elude an
seizure for a traffic violation justifies a police untrained person.’”
investigation of that violation.” As part of that
investigation, “an officer may examine driver’s Smith first argues that the stop should have ended
licenses and vehicle registrations and run at 6:04 p.m., because by that time Officer
computer checks.” “He may also ask about the Solomon had seen that the vehicle had a
purpose and itinerary of the occupants’ trip . . . .” temporary license plate and had confirmed that
And he may ask “similar question[s] of the Smith’s driver’s license was valid. We are

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