Arizona Senate Bill 1070 (Immigration Law) - Probable Cause?

[AZTechie]

Hi, this is my first post on RealPolice.net. As my screen name suggests, I live in Arizona, and have a question about Senate Bill 1070 and determining probable cause. I don't know about the rest of the country, but speed limit signs in Phoenix do not say MPH on them, just the number. At least once a week, I will see a vehicle going 45 KILOMETERS per hour. If the driver happens to be hispanic, is that probable cause for an officer to conduct a traffic stop on that vehicle and check immigration status had injunctions not been put in place against the law?

[marinepilot]

AZTechie, Welcome to RP from the Florida Panhandle! Glad you found our site! Usually we ask our newest members to go to the New Member Introductions forum and post a thread telling us a bit about themselves. And on a different note, just want to let you know that this particular forum is for writers asking questions about stories / books / screenplays they are writing, hence the name Writers' Questions. This would be better served living in the regular Ask-A-Cop section, so I'm going to move it there.

As for answering your question, the difference between 45 MPH and 45 KPH is quite substantial where 45 KPH is only equalling approximately 28 MPH. So, if the officer was out to pull someone over for going substantially UNDER the posted speed limit, I guess he/she could. As for whether or not that would be considered PC for asking a hispanic looking person for their papers, I can't answer that.

[Legoate]

In most states there are laws regarding impeding traffic. It has nothing to do with being hispanic or not. If you drive significantly under the speed limit and impede traffic you may be stopped. It's common for very drunk DUI drivers to drive very slowly.

[G35 Mass]

There are two different things to deal with.

1) Probable cause of a traffic infraction
2) Probable cause of an immigration violation

1) If the state has a law about impeding traffic or something else that governs vehicles traveling too slow, given the situation above the officer would have P/C that the violation has occurred. A motor vehicle stop may be effected.

That ALONE does NOT mean the officer has P/C of an immigration violation.

2) P/C of an immigration violation would be separate, and would be developed during the officer's contact with the violator.

I remind you that P/C is a relatively low standard. If 51% of the facts and circumstances indicate that there's an immigration violation, P/C exists.

[AZTechie]

Thank you all for your insight (esp. G35 Mass)...much appreciated! Like I said, I see this all the time, and was curious of the possible outcomes to this type of situation.

[Legoate]

In CA i've arrested one person in the last seven years for an immigration violation. That person was contacted during a traffic stop and was flagged with a "previously deported violent felon" warrant.

Believe it or not, most of us never deal with immigration issues despite what the news may say.

[DeltaV]

Roadway speeds in the United States are measured in miles per hour. That's a USDOT guideline that is applicable in every state. You rarely ever see a sign with the actual "MPH" written out.

I don't think anyone can answer the question as to what constitutes reasonable suspicion (or probable cause, however you want to look at it) to conduct an immigration investigation per Arizona law, as nobody has been able to enforce it yet. There are various court decisions on the federal level involving the Border Patrol that basically say race can be taken into consideration along with other factors (proximity to the border, appearance, etc.) to justify an investigative stop to inquire into immigration status.

In addition to that, there's nothing that says once someone is lawfully stopped for one infraction (such as speeding), you can't inquire into other things. We do it all the time, but usually it doesn't have anything to do with immigration. That's not because we can't ask about immigration status, it's because we can't do anything if they're illegal for the most part.