Along for the Ride?: Warrant Checks and the Status of Passengers During Traffic Stops in Utah
Along for the Ride?: Warrant Checks and the Status of Passengers During Traffic Stops in Utah
by Lance Starr
Utah law recognizes three levels of encounter between police and a civilian. For the purposes of this essay, only the first two levels are of interest. A level one encounter occurs when a citizen voluntarily elects to respond to non-coercive questioning by a law enforcement officer. The law assumes that since the encounter is consensual, the person is free to leave or terminate the encounter at anytime and therefore no Fourth Amendment seizure occurs. State v. Hansen, 63 P.3d 650, 661 (Utah 2002). A level two encounter involves an investigative detention that is brief and non-intrusive. It is a Fourth Amendment seizure but probable cause is not required. Rather, the officer need only have "specific and articulable facts and rational inferences which give rise to a reasonable suspicion a person has or is committing a crime, in order to initiate an investigative detention without consent.'" Id.
