Can the Police Detain me after a Traffic Stop to allow a drug dog to Sniff My Car?

Описание: If a police officer in Alabama stops you for a minor traffic violation and gives you a ticket, can he make you wait for a police dog to do a drug sniff of your car?

As in all things legal, the answer is not as straightforward as you might think. Let me give you two examples to explain answer this question.

Example number one

Billy Bob crosses the center line briefly while driving. Officer Clark pulls him over and after running a record check in doing the usual things he gives Billy Bob a ticket for improper lane usage. Officer Clark tells Billy Bob. He appears to be nervous and asks Billy Bob if he can take a look around the car to make sure you don't have any drugs or weapons?

Billy Bob says he does mind, and he would like to be on his way. Officer Clark says well if you're not going to let me look around. I'll have to call a K-9 unit. The officer tells Billy Bob to wait right there and in about five minutes K-9 unit shows up. The K-9 sniffs around the car and alerts on the trunk. Inside the trunk, Billy Bob has about half pound of weed and the officer arrests him for possession of marijuana.

In court Billy Bob's lawyer, Zebulon Justice argues that officer Clark didn't have reasonable suspicion to extend the traffic stop in order to allow for the drug sniff and Billy Bob's detention was therefore an unreasonable seizure under the fourth amendment.

Judge Wise after hearing the evidence agrees that the evidence against Billy Bob is due to be thrown out because officer Clark lacked any reasonable suspicion after writing the ticket to prolong Billy Bob's detention. And since Billy Bob was detained without sufficient grounds anything that followed was in violation of Billy Bob's right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Example number two:

Bubba Jackson also crosses the center line briefly while he is driving. Bubba is stopped by officer Brinkley. Officer Brinkley gives Bubba a ticket for crossing the center line. Officer Brinkley notices that Bubba appears nervous, he is sweating although it is a cool day. Bubbas hands are shaking and when officer Brinkley hands Bubba the ticket, he notices Bubba has some sort of green flakes on his shirt. Officer Brinkley also sees some digital scales lying in the front seat and some rolling papers Officer Brinkley asks the Bubba and his passenger BoSephus where they were going; they provide completely contradictory answers. Officer Brinkley tells Bubba that he is calling a drug dog to sniff around the vehicle. Five minutes later. Officer Clancy arrives with his drug dog Rocky. Rocky alerts on the trunk. In the trunk of Bubbas car there is a half-pound of weed. Bubba is arrested for possession of marijuana.

Bubba goes to court right after Billy Bob won his case. Bubba's lawyer, Travis Sty argues that that it’s just like Billy Bob's case and the evidence is due to be thrown out since like Billy Bob, Bubba was detained after the officer had already written the ticket. This time, judge Wise denies the Motion of Bubba's lawyer to suppress the evidence.

So, what’s the difference?

Here Judge Wise found that the information obtained by officer Brinkley after the stop provided sufficient reasonable suspicion to extend Bubba's stop so as to allow for the arrival of the drug dog. Remember after the stop officer Brinkley noticed Bubba was nervous and he had green flakes on his shirt. The officer also saw digital scales and rolling papers and the contradictory answers provided by Bubba and Bo Cephas further provided reasonable suspicion to the officer that some sort of criminal activity may be afoot.

These examples are based on real cases. The rule is not that the police must let you go immediately after they've written a ticket. The rule is that unless the police have reasonable suspicion to further detain you, they must let you go. Reasonable suspicion means based on the totality of specific and articulable facts and inferences a police officer would have reasonable grounds to believe someone was engaged in criminal activity. The extra facts in Bubba’s case provided that.

The bottom line is, just because you're stopped and given a ticket from the police, it does not automatically mean you're free to go…If the officer develops other reasonable suspicions after he has written you the ticket he may legally detain you for a reasonable period of time.