Opinion ID: 1058199
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Legality of Jones' Detention

Text: A police officer may conduct a brief investigatory stop when the officer, in light of his training and experience, has reasonable, articulable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot. Terry, 392 U.S. at 21, 27, 30, 88 S.Ct. 1868. To comport with the protections afforded by the Fourth Amendment, a traffic stop must be justified by an objective manifestation that the person stopped is engaged, or is about to be engaged, in criminal activity. United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981). The court must consider the totality of the circumstances in determining whether the police officer had a particularized and objective basis for suspecting that the person stopped may be involved in criminal activity. Id. at 417-18, 101 S.Ct. 690. [A]n officer's subjective characterization of observed conduct is not relevant to a court's analysis concerning whether there is a reasonable suspicion because the Court's review of whether there was reasonable suspicion involves application of an objective rather than a subjective standard. Harris v. Commonwealth, 276 Va. 689, 697, 668 S.E.2d 141, 146 (2008). The Supreme Court recently stated: A lawful roadside stop begins when a vehicle is pulled over for investigation of a traffic violation. The temporary seizure of driver and passengers ordinarily continues, and remains reasonable, for the duration of the stop. Normally, the stop ends when the police have no further need to control the scene, and inform the driver and passengers they are free to leave. Arizona v. Johnson, 555 U.S. ___, ___, 129 S.Ct. 781, 788, 172 L.Ed.2d 694 (2009). Jones does not challenge the legality of the initial stop. Rather, Jones argues that his seizure became illegal when the detectives were notified that the information Jones provided them concerning his name and social security number was good. Jones asserts that as soon as a dispatcher confirmed that the name Jones provided was a licensed driver without any outstanding warrants, the detectives no longer had reasonable, articulable suspicion justifying a continuation of Jones' detention. We disagree with Jones. When the detectives first observed Jones' vehicle, it was parked in a public street impeding the flow of traffic. This gave the detectives reasonable suspicion to effectuate a traffic stop because impeding the flow of traffic on a highway is prohibited by Portsmouth City Ordinance § 22-561(a). [4] The detectives were justified in stopping Jones' vehicle and conducting a brief, investigatory stop regarding the traffic offense as well as the apparent hand-to-hand transaction in a high crime, high drug area. Even though the information Jones provided the detectives was confirmed to be that of a valid driver, that confirmation did not prove that Jones was, in fact, the person so identified. Without a valid form of identification, it was impossible for the detectives to determine whether Jones was who he said he was. It was not unreasonable for the detectives to continue to detain Jones for a reasonable period of time, awaiting a uniformed officer with a computer, in order to access a photograph of the person whose name Jones had provided. Determining Jones' true identity was reasonably necessary to the traffic stop, both in investigating the apparent traffic offense and the suspected drug transaction. Thus, the temporary continued seizure of Jones did not amount to an unlawful detention because determining Jones' true identity was within the scope of the unchallenged investigatory stop and was not unreasonable.