When a traffic stop becomes an unlawful detention
A stop justified only by a traffic violation lasts only as long as its "mission" — "Authority for the seizure thus ends when tasks tied to the traffic infraction are—or reasonably should have been—completed." Prolonging it for unrelated investigation, such as a dog sniff, requires independent reasonable suspicion. Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348, 354 (2015)1
- The initial stop — Stopping a car is reasonable "where the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred," and the officer's "[s]ubjective intentions play no role" in that analysis. Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 810, 813 (1996)2
- Terry framework — A traffic stop is "more analogous to a so-called 'Terry stop'" than to an arrest; any further detention must rest on "specific and articulable facts." Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348, 354 (2015)1; Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21 (1968)3
- What the mission includes — Deciding whether to ticket plus "ordinary inquiries incident to [the traffic] stop": checking the license, outstanding warrants, registration, and proof of insurance, plus "negligibly burdensome" officer-safety precautions. Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348, 355–356 (2015)1
- Unrelated checks — Unrelated inquiries are permitted "so long as those inquiries do not measurably extend the duration of the stop"; everyone in the car is seized for the stop's duration. Arizona v. Johnson, 555 U.S. 323, 327, 333 (2009)4
- The test is added time, not sequence — "The critical question … is not whether the dog sniff occurs before or after the officer issues a ticket, … but whether conducting the sniff 'prolongs'—i. e., adds time to—'the stop.'" Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348, 357 (2015)1
- No de minimis or "bonus time" rule — The Court rejected the Eighth Circuit's de minimis exception and held an officer who works quickly cannot "earn bonus time to pursue an unrelated criminal investigation." Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348, 356–357 (2015)1
Practice notes
- Build the timeline (video, CAD logs): when traffic tasks were, or reasonably should have been, finished, and what suspicion existed at that moment. Diligence is gauged by "what the officer actually did and how he did it." Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348, 357 (2015)1
- Rodriguez vacated and remanded, leaving open whether independent reasonable suspicion supported the extension — expect the government to argue suspicion developed mid-stop. Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348, 357–358 (2015)1