Comments - During traffic stops, why do the police ask for your vehicle registration and insurance?

Comments

I got very excited when I finally had a case come into my office that involved the issues Ryan discusses above. Unfortunately, I found a case that shoots down much of the argument, Brown v. MVD, 157 Or App 167 (1998): "the officer's request for registration and proof of insurance was not an improper expansion of the stop. In State v. Black, 146 Or.App. 1, 932 P.2d 554, rev. den. 325 Or. 247, 936 P.2d 363 (1997), an officer stopped the defendant on suspicion of illegal dumping, requested the same documents that Boe requested in this case, and made observations during the defendant's search for those documents that led him to arrest defendant for DUII. We held that the request was not an improper expansion of the stop, stating:

'Likewise, request of documentation of registration was related to proof of ownership of the van and was reasonably related to the investigation. Although requesting proof of insurance may not be directly related to illegal dumping, its inclusion in the requests for other documentation is related to the general investigation into identification of defendant and ownership of the van thought to be involved in the crime.' Id. at 5, 932 P.2d 554. Consistent with Black, we find that Boe's request for registration and proof of insurance was reasonably related to the purpose of the traffic stop in this case and was not an impermissible expansion of the stop under ORS 810.410."

— Reoberdorfer (Talk) • July 1, 2015 at 15:36 (PST)

The same case shoots down my argument that cops can't ask that we roll our window down more substantially: "We reject petitioner's claims that Boe improperly expanded the traffic stop. * * * Boe's request that defendant open his window was not an expansion of the initial stop of the sort that might lead to suppression under ORS 810.410 or Dominguez-Martinez. ORS 810.410(3)(b) allows officers to 'stop and detain a person for a traffic infraction for the purposes of investigation reasonably related to the traffic infraction, identification and issuance of citation.' We have no difficulty concluding that Boe's request to open the window was reasonably related to identification and issuance of the citation, at least. We do not read ORS 810.410 or Dominguez-Martinez to suggest that a lone police officer approaching a traffic offender at 2:30 in the morning must conduct her inquiries through a two-inch crack in a car window."

— Reoberdorfer (Talk) • July 1, 2015 at 15:38 (PST)