Opinion ID: 2549040
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Inherent Dangerousness of Traffic Stops As an Element of the Totality of the Circumstances

Text: ¶ 26 Traffic stops are analogous to Terry stops, which are justified on the basis of reasonable suspicion rather than probable cause. Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 439, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984). A significant difference, however, between a pedestrian stop and a traffic stop is the unknowns presented by the vehicle itself. A vehicle has hidden compartments and the potential to hide the suspect's actions from the officer's view. Thus, the inherent dangerousness of traffic stops discussed above is directly tied to a person's occupancy of, and potential access to, the vehicle. See Long, 463 U.S. at 1049, 103 S.Ct. 3469. ¶ 27 It stands to reason, therefore, that if a person is ordered out of a vehicle, some or all of the inherent dangerousness of a traffic stop may be mitigated. To perform a Terry frisk, an officer must order the occupants from the vehicle. As the United States Supreme Court explained, [e]stablishing a face-to-face confrontation diminishes the possibility, otherwise substantial, that the driver can make unobserved movements; this, in turn, reduces the likelihood that the officer will be the victim of an assault. Mimms, 434 U.S. at 110, 98 S.Ct. 330. In extending Mimms to passengers, the Court later explained, [o]utside the car, the passengers will be denied access to any possible weapon that might be concealed in the interior of the passenger compartment. Wilson, 519 U.S. at 414, 117 S.Ct. 882. In simple traffic stops where other indicia of dangerousness are absent, ordering the occupants of the vehicle out of the car clearly mitigates the inherent dangerousness of the stop. ¶ 28 This is not to say that officers must always order occupants out of a vehicle to minimize danger to themselves or others or that officers must adopt alternative means to increase their safety in order to avoid the intrusions involved in a Terry encounter. Long, 463 U.S. at 1052, 103 S.Ct. 3469. Nor do we believe that ordering occupants out of a vehicle during a traffic stop will necessarily eliminate all danger. As the Supreme Court has also noted, a suspect may still gain access to a vehicle even after the officer orders the suspect out of the vehicle. Id. at 1051-52, 103 S.Ct. 3469. Thus, while we recognize that the inherent dangerousness of traffic stops may be mitigated by ordering the occupants out of the vehicle, we also note that some danger related to potential access to the vehicle may remain. ¶ 29 Because ordering the occupants out of the vehicle may remove or substantially reduce the inherent dangerousness of a traffic stop, both the inherent dangerousness of a traffic stop and any decrease in danger from ordering a suspect from a vehicle are factors that should be considered under the totality of the circumstances. We reiterate that even when not mitigated, the inherent dangerousness of a traffic stop alone is not determinative. The officer must still meet the requirements of Terry by pointing to `specific and articulable facts which, taken together with the rational inferences from those facts,' would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the suspect may be armed and presently dangerous. Long, 463 U.S. at 1049, 103 S.Ct. 3469 (quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868).