More on Prolonged Detentions: Careful Not to Stray from the ‘Mission of the Traffic Stop’

Diverting from the “mission of the traffic stop” to investigate other possible criminal violations for which there is no reasonable suspicion may convert an otherwise lawful traffic stop into an illegally prolonged detention. 

• Prolonged detentions 
• Mission of the traffic stop 
• Reasonable suspicion 
• Criminal investigations unrelated to the mission of the traffic stop 

During a traffic stop for an observed traffic violation, an officer has about 10 or 11 minutes to complete the “mission of the traffic stop.” Using that time, however, to conduct an unrelated criminal investigation, including the use of a drug sniffing dog around the detainee’s vehicle, constitutes an illegally prolonged detention. 

During the early afternoon of March 16, 2018, an undercover officer told an Anaheim police officer, who had a drug-sniffing K-9 partner named “Titan,” that the driver of a specific pickup had been at the Tampico Motel and had “acted suspiciously,” whatever that means. The officer knew that drug trafficking was a problem at that motel. With this knowledge, he located the truck and followed it in his marked police car when he (conveniently) observed the driver of the truck make a quick lane change, cutting off another vehicle. (Veh. Code, § 22107, unsafe lane change.) Initiating a traffic stop, the officer, with his body camera activated, contacted the driver (defendant Gyorgy), the sole occupant of the truck.  

The officer asked for, and received, Gyorgy’s driver’s license. The officer then questioned Gyorgy about all kinds of things except the traffic infraction: whether he was on probation or parole, whether he was a narcotics or sex registrant, whether he had any needles or sharp objects in his truck, whether he had any weapons or drugs in the truck. In response, Gyorgy told the officer that he was in fact a registered sex offender, but denied everything else. Asked about prior arrests, Gyorgy claimed that he had two arrests, one for a theft, but both nonviolent felonies. Still without addressing the traffic violation, the officer asked Gyorgy whether he was current on his sex offender registration requirements. After Gyorgy claimed that he was, the ....