Opinion ID: 1205332
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Whether the seizure and search were unreasonable in scope.

Text: [I]n determining whether the seizure and search were `unreasonable' our inquiry is a dual onewhether the officer's action was justified at its inception, and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place. Terry v. State of Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19-20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). Gama contends that the police had no legal justification to detain him or to search his vehicle and that he should have been allowed to proceed after the citation was written. We have already concluded that the seizure and search were reasonable at their inception. We now address the issue of whether the conduct of the officers was unreasonable in scope. The district court found that the narcotics unit, including the drug dog, Cleo, arrived on the scene prior to the time that the citation was completed. The district court also found no evidence in the record to indicate that Trooper Gyll was dilatory in issuing the citation. Finally, the district court found that the sniff of the vehicle was not a search for Fourth Amendment purposes and, because the sniff was conducted while Gama was lawfully detained for the traffic violations, did not constitute a seizure. See State v. Barker, 252 Kan. 949, 850 P.2d 885, 891 (1993) (use of a dog to sniff the exterior of a vehicle is not a search for the purposes of the Fourth Amendment); see also United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983) (use of drug dog to sniff defendant's luggage at airport not search). The district court's order makes it clear that the stop was neither unreasonably lengthy nor unreasonably intrusive for a traffic stop. We have reviewed the record and conclude that the district court's findings are supported by substantial evidence. Accordingly, Gama's contention that the scope of his detention was unreasonable in light of the legal justification for the stop is without merit. [4]