Traffic Stop: Passenger Check

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This is Robert Scirocco bringing you today's Law Bit.

If a car is stopped for a traffic violation, do the police need a reason to run a criminal data search not just on the driver, but on the passenger as well?

The N.J. Supreme Court recently ruled that in fact no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity is needed in order to do such a mobile computer search of a passenger.

The justification for the ruling is that the information that might be retrieved - including information on outstanding warrants - is a matter of public record. Thus there is, the court noted, no expectation of privacy.

Besides it only takes the police a few seconds to tap into the data base, and so... as technology advances, privacy rights will continue to diminish.

This is Robert Scirocco, attorney at law, Budd Lake, New Jersey, bringing you today's law bit.

This is Robert Scirocco, Attorney at Law in Budd Lake, bringing you today's Law Bit.

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