Running Criminal History Check II

In this archive episode, Dennis explains when it is okay to run criminal history checks. Recorded on 07/02/2018. US v Finke 1996 - https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9193536753118804005&q=finke&hl=en&as_sdt=3%2C31&fbclid=IwAR1ap0l0HNCB-IOb7_xr6eN7Ke9svoYa9iqYgUIDQ5DD__eC03xBkAXzIi4 (https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9193536753118804005&q=finke&hl=en&as_sdt=3,31) We do not believe that Finke's Fourth Amendment rights were infringed when Delmore decided to wait five minutes for the results of the criminal history check he had requested. We note that there is little authority addressing when and under what circumstances a criminal history check is permissible during a routine traffic stop. Recently, the Tenth Circuit indicated that for officer safety reasons such a check would be an unobjectionable part of every routine traffic stop: [Criminal history] checks are run largely to protect the officer. Considering the tragedy of the many officers who are shot during routine traffic stops each year, the almost simultaneous computer check of a person's criminal record, along with his or her license and registration, is reasonable and hardly intrusive. United States v. McRae, 81 F.3d 1528, n. 6 (10th Cir.1996). Other cases demonstrate an implied acceptance of criminal history checks as generally reasonable, by beginning their unconstitutional detention analysis only after the point at which a criminal history report has been obtained. For example, in Crain, 33 F.3d at 483, the Fifth Circuit held that it was not an unreasonable or illegal detention to question the driver and passengers of a car about matters unrelated to the traffic stop while the officers were waiting for the results of a computer check, including a criminal history search. This, of course, assumes that it was reasonable to ask for the criminal history check and to extend the detention until it was received. See also United States v. Sandoval, 29 F.3d 537, 538, 542-43 (10th Cir.1994) (finding crimin