The Routine Traffic Stop from Start to Finish: Too Much Routine, Not Enough Fourth Amendment
![handle is hein.journals/mlr102 and id is 1861 raw text is: THE ROUTINE TRAFFIC STOP FROM
START TO FINISH: TOO MUCH ROUTINE,
NOT ENOUGH FOURTH AMENDMENT
Wayne R. LaFave*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. THE START: LAWFULNESS OF THE TRAFFIC STOP ................ 1846
A. Quantum of Evidence .........................................................1846
B. Protection Against Arbitrariness and Pretext ...................1852
II. THE IN-BETWEEN: DIMENSIONS OF A LAWFUL TRAFFIC
STOP .............................................................................................1862
A. The Applicability of the Terry Limitations .......................1862
B. Specific Investigative Techniques.......................................1874
1. Records Check ...............................................................1874
2. Questioning Vehicle Occupants ...................................1885
3. Obtaining Consent to Search........................................1891
4. Sniffing by D rug D ogs.................................................1894
III. THE FINISH: FROM SEIZURE TO CONSENSUAL
ENCOUNTER.............................................................................. 1898
IV. SOME FINAL REFLECTIONS....................................................... 1902
Yale Kamisar, about which I have said too much elsewhere in this
issue of the Review,' could rightly be called Mr. Confessions, for he
has not only authored books and a host of articles on the subject of
police interrogation, but for years has been printing Miranda cards in
his basement and selling them to police departments all across the
nation.2 Moreover, he may be the only law professor in the country
* David C. Baum Professor of Law Emeritus & Center for Advanced Study Professor
Emeritus, University of Illinois. B.S. 1957, LL.B. 1959, S.J.D. 1965, University of Wisconsin.
Professor LaFave has advised us that his personal experience with traffic stops is limited,
as he has been stopped but once, about thirty-five years ago. He was stopped and ticketed
for speeding by a Madison, Wisconsin, officer while driving to the University of Wisconsin
law school to give a lecture entitled Discretionary Enforcement by the Police! - Ed.
1. See Wayne R. LaFave, What is a Kamisar?, 102 MICH. L. REV. 1732 (2004)
[hereinafter LaFave, What is a Kamisar?].
2. Some skeptics out there might not believe this, so I will cite a reliable source. See
Wayne R. LaFave, Random Thoughts by a Distant Collaborator, 94 MICH. L. REV. 2431,
2435 n.11 (1996).
1843](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/mlr102&div=81&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Routine Traffic Stop from Start to Finish: Too Much Routine, Not Enough Fourth Amendment
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