Officers regularly run license plate checks to learn the ownership of an abandoned vehicle, verify whether the vehicle is stolen and randomly check plates while on routine patrol. Often, vehicle registration checks lead to other evidence of criminal activity. No doubt, checking license plates is an excellent tool to obtain a wealth of information. But are the owners of the plates and vehicle registrations entitled to keep that information private? In other words, what do officers need by way of reasonable suspicion or probable cause to run the license plate? Cnc Software Linux. The answer: Nothing, as long as police officers legitimately observe the license plate.

The Happy Atheist Epub Converter here. No Plate Privacy Many courts have addressed the issue of whether police officers need probable cause or reasonable suspicion to run computerized checks on license plates under a variety of circumstances. The question is not whether officers can stop a vehicle once the computer check reveals a criminal and/or traffic violation. The question is whether officers need probable cause or reasonable suspicion to run the computer check in the first place. Despite the underlying circumstances, the courts don t hesitate in asserting that a motorist has no expectation of privacy in the license plate number of his vehicle. So, when police officers randomly run the registration of vehicles for no reason other than to check the information, there is no Fourth Amendment violation. For example, in United States v. Walraven, an Albany County, Wyo., deputy sheriff observed two men driving a 1983 brown Cadillac bearing a Tennessee license plate.