Case Name: State of Vermont v. Edmund A. Lanoue
Court: Vermont Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Vermont
Decision Date: 1991-01-25
Citations: 156 Vt. 35
Docket Number: No. 88-533
Parties: State of Vermont v. Edmund A. Lanoue
Judges: Present: Allen, C.J., Peck, Gibson, Dooley and Morse, JJ.
Reporter: Vermont Reports
Volume: 156
Pages: 35–41

Head Matter:
State of Vermont v. Edmund A. Lanoue
[587 A.2d 405]
No. 88-533
Present: Allen, C.J., Peck, Gibson, Dooley and Morse, JJ.
Opinion Filed January 25, 1991
Jeffrey L. Amestoy, Attorney General, and Susan R. Harritt, Assistant Attorney General, Montpelier, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
David A. Howard, Public Defender, Bennington, for Defendant-Appellant.

Opinion:
Gibson, J.
Defendant appeals from his conviction of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor in violation of 23 V.S.A. § 1201(a)(2). We affirm.
On September 17, 1987, at 12:46 a.m., an officer of the Bennington Police Department observed defendant operating a motor vehicle. The officer believed defendant's right to operate was under suspension, and this suspicion was verified by a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) computer check. The information provided by the computer check was later found to be incorrect. Pursuant to 23 V.S.A. § 110, defendant's right to operate had been suspended on August 13,1987 for twice submitting insufficiently funded checks to the DMV. Although his right to operate was reinstated at 12:01 a.m. on September 17, 1987, this information was not transferred to the DMV computer until after the stop had been made. There is also confusion as to whether the DMV sent notice of this suspension to defendant's proper mailing address, and whether the DMV waived his reinstatement fee.
Defendant timely moved for suppression of all evidence obtained as a result of the stop, claiming that the stop violated Chapter I, Article 11, of the Vermont Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The motion was denied at pretrial hearing and again at trial.
On appeal, defendant contends that the requisite cause for an investigative stop cannot be sustained when it is based upon incorrect information provided by the DMV. An after-the-fact finding that the information was incorrect will not, however, invalidate otherwise sufficient reasonable suspicion. See State v. Ewoldt, 448 N.W.2d 676, 678 (Iowa Ct. App. 1989) ("'reasonable suspicion may be based on articulable facts even if such facts are ultimately shown to be inaccurate'") (quoting Kelly v. State, 721 S.W.2d 586, 587 (Tex. Ct. App. 1986)); cf. State v. Phillips, 140 Vt. 210, 216, 436 A.2d 746, 749-50 (1981) (police knowledge at the time of arrest is what governs; an arrest or search cannot be justified by what the search discloses). Reasonable suspicion for an investigative stop can be sustained where the source of the information carries the requisite indicia of reliability. State v. Kettlewell, 149 Vt. 331, 335-36, 544 A.2d 591, 594 (1987).
This case is less extreme than State v. Ryea, 153 Vt. 451, 454, 571 A.2d 674, 676 (1990), where we upheld an investigative stop made by a state trooper who believed he had seen defendant's name posted at the state police barracks on a list of drivers whose licenses had been suspended. A license check made after the stop revealed that defendant's license had been reinstated nearly two months earlier. Thus, as in the instant case, the stop in Ryea was based on out-dated information. Although the precise issue raised in the instant case was not presented in Ryea, it is noteworthy that this Court held in Ryea that the trooper was justified in making the stop while he checked the status of defendant's license.
The precise issue raised by defendant in the instant case was raised in Ewoldt, where the Iowa Court of Appeals sustained reasonable suspicion for an investigative stop based upon information provided by that state's Department of Transportation even though the information was later found to be inaccurate. The Department was held to be a reasonably trustworthy source of information where the police officers did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that the information was inaccurate. Ewoldt, 448 N.W.2d at 678. Although the court's analysis focused upon the fact that the officers sought information from a source officially recognized as reliable, both its reasoning and its holding rely on the fact that responsibility for developing the information was entrusted by statute to a department distinct from the police department.
The officer in the present case sought verification of his suspicion from a source which is similarly known to be reliable. The DMV is authorized to regulate the registration of motor vehicles and the licensing of drivers, including the suspension and revocation of the right to operate. 23 V.S.A. § 102, 301-516, 671-675. In conjunction with its regulatory authority, the DMV is charged with keeping complete records concerning the status of registrations and drivers' licenses, and with making these records available to the public and government agencies. 23 V.S.A. § 102(a)(6), 104,109. Thus, the DMV is recognized as an official source for such information, independent of law enforcement agencies.
Defendant argues that, even though the collective knowledge of the police force may be pooled and imputed to the arresting officer as a basis for reasonable suspicion, there can be no reasonable suspicion if information provided by the police network is incorrect. The collective knowledge theory applies, however, only where incorrect information is chargeable to a law enforcement agency. See People v. Jennings, 54 N.Y.2d 518, 520, 430 N.E.2d 1282,1283, 446 N.Y.S.2d 229,230 (1981) (arrest invalid when "arresting officer acts upon information in criminal justice system records . . . which, through fault of the system, has been retained in its records after it became inapplicable") (emphasis added); see also 2 W. LaFave, Search & Seizure § 3.5(d), at 21-22 (2d ed. 1987) (fundamental point is not whether the arresting officer was at fault, but whether the law enforcement system was at fault).
In the cases relied upon by defendant, incorrect information was provided by systems that were under the control of law enforcement agencies. In both Jennings, 54 N.Y.2d at 521, 430 N.E.2d at 1284, 446 N.Y.S.2d at 231, and United States v. Mackey, 387 F. Supp. 1121,1122-25 (D. Nev. 1975), arrests occurred because of incorrect information provided by the National Crime Information Center. Information retained by that system is submitted and used by state and federal law enforcement agencies, and these agencies are responsible for the accuracy, validity, and completeness of the records. See Mackey, 387 F. Supp. at 1123 (explanation of the purpose and function of the National Crime Information Center); see also Whiteley v. Warden, 401 U.S. 560, 568 (1971) (arrest by fellow officers illegal where based on another officer's invalid warrant); Carter v. State, 18 Md. App. 150, 156, 305 A.2d 856, 860 (1973) (completely erroneous information was chargeable to the police team). Accordingly, we hold that incorrect information provided by the DMV is not chargeable to a law enforcement agency.
Defendant alternatively argues that this case should be remanded for factual findings pertaining to the suspension procedures followed by the DMV. This argument is, however, conditioned upon these procedures being essential to determining whether evidence should be suppressed. Inasmuch as they are not essential to the suppression issue, remand would not be appropriate.
Affirmed.