Do cops need probable cause to run someones liscense plate for no reason?

Question

I got pulled over for driving without a liscense, but when i questioned the cop why i got pulled over he told me he ran my plates and saw that i have active warrants, true, but what reason did he need in the first place to run the plates? He said something about investigative stop, anyone know if this is crap hes talking about? If i can get my driving while liscense suspended charge dismissed (cuz thats what i got charged with) then ill get a lawyer to do it, since he had no reason to pull me over to begin with.

Answer 1

The simple answer is "No" because they are not searching or seizing anything under the 4th Amendment and your license plate is in public view (as it's supposed to be). "Probable cause" relates to searches & seizures and therefore to the 4th Amendment. (read it. It uses the phrase "probable cause"). Nor does running your license plate violate your 4th Amendment "reasonable expectation of privacy" under Katz v. United States. So if the license plate came back in your name and you had an outstanding warrant, the cop had every right to pull you over.

Answer 2

The police have every right to run your license plate as you have no expectation of privacy in your license plate as it belongs to the state as someone else said. One issue noone has touched on though is that how can the officer articulate that the owner of the car is the one driving?
Any officer worth his salt would have never told the driver of the car that that was the reason that he was pulled over. He would have found something wrong with the vehicle or waited until the driver committed some minor traffic offense to help justify the stop. In my state the main issue would be: how does the officer know who's driving the car? If the driver is not the person with the warrants, then that car was pulled over illegally as the only justification for the stop was if the owner was the driver. The officer can't tell the non-owner "just checking."

Answer 3

No the cops dont need a reason for anything thats in plan view which is why the plate is on the back of the car. When he saw you had the warrents he could have searched your car and everything. You never know whats going on with the cops, what if someone saw a person stealing their neighbors car(busting the window then taking a min or two to start it while their head is under the dash is a dead give-a-way) and it was just like yours but they didnt know the plate number and the person wasnt home. The cops might have pulled over several of the same car just to make sure that the car was whoever was driving it.

Answer 4

It's quite legal. He ran the plates before he ever pulled you over. Your tags are a matter of public record, as are any active warrants. The cop is simply cross-referencing databases of public information.

When you present yourself in public, you leave yourself open to inspection by the police; you have no inherent right of privacy in a public place.

The duties of a cop are crime prevention and apprehension of crimminals. Very few crimes are actually witnessed by police. It would be impossible to provide a safe, livable community if the police were not permitted to check on the legal status of persons in a public place.

The laws of virtually state require you to identify yourself to a peace officer on demand. While most of the time they cannot demand identification you are legally bound to give a truthful answer. When you are driving, they can demand to see a driver's license as the law requires you to have it in your posession any time you drive. Your tags provide further identification.

If the police were not permitted to randomly run plates as a routine part of their job, they would be doing far more investigative stops or documentation stops than they now do.

You should get a lawyer, since you do have outstanding charges and warrants. He'll tell you the same thing about the legality of the traffic stop.

Answer 5

Depending on your state the officer had every right to pull you over to check. Any time you are on the road you are subject to having your plates ran, and when he saw warrants pop up, and that the car was being driven by a male driver, he made the stop. But to start with why were you driving in the first place if you had no License, or a suspended License.
In my state if they see you with out a seat belt on they can pull you over and ticket you.

Answer 6

You have much larger problems than worrying why the cop ran your plate! Seriously.

"since he had no reason to pull me over to begin with." Don't blame someone else for your faults.

Say to yourself.. I was "driving without a liscense","i have active warrants","driving while liscense suspended"

Answer 7

The rule varies from state to state, but in general they can and do run plates all the time, on any vechile that they question something about, ( not probable cause, but reasonable suspesion) this is a lower level of requirement.

In many states they can pull you over to check drivers licence and insurance, in others they have to have a reason to stop you ( but running your plates and finding a warrant is ground)
Also a list of plates with warrants is issues normally and they can just compare them without running yours)

Answer 8

The police can run license plates for no reason. They are in plain view and contain information useful to police for whatever reason they need the information for.

As for the investigative stop, he had reason to believe you may be the driver since the vehicle was registered to you.

Furthermore, in Texas the police can pull you over meerly to check to see if you have a drivers license.

I am not sure what you are going to fight here, but you need to think about a lawyer if that you feel you need onw.

Answer 9

well it is stupid that he pulled you over, the same sh!t happend to one of my friends. This car wasn't even in our name yet, we had plate off one of the other cars on it, and he ran the plates, he didnt have in reason to run them in the first place though. As for getting out of the ticket, your screwd. Whether or not he should have pulled you over your were still driving on a suspended

Answer 10

Whenever a cop is behind you, assume he is running your plates. Not against the law to run plates, it happened to me before the Patriot Act, so that's not an issue.