CA2: NYPD could run DLs during DL checkpoint

A driver’s license checkpoint in the Bronx was reasonably conducted, and the NYPD did not violate any Fourth Amendment right by running the DL information through computers to see if the license was valid. A warrant showed for defendant, and he was arrested. United States v. Bernacet, 724 F.3d 269 (2d Cir. 2013):

In this case, the traffic safety checkpoint was conducted at an “accident prone location in the impact zone,” and officers processed 49 cars in two hours. … The waiting times that each car experienced are fairly characterized as “brief” and “no more onerous than [delays] that typically accompany normal traffic congestion.” Illinois v. Lidster, 540 U.S. 419, 426 (2004); see also Mich. Dep’t of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 452 (1990)(stating that the “‘objective’ intrusion” on motorists subjected to checkpoint stops is “measured by the duration of the seizure and the intensity of the investigation”). This traffic safety checkpoint was thus lawful, and is not on its own challenged by Bernacet.

. . .

The duration of the stop was not significantly increased by the fact that the MDTs search multiple databases, including law enforcement databases. Although our decision in United States v. Harrison, 606 F.3d 42 (2d Cir. 2010), related to traffic stops instead of checkpoints, it applies with equal force in this context, where the initial stop is not challenged. In Harrison, we wrote that “an officer’s inquiries into matters unrelated to the justification for the traffic stop . . . do not convert the encounter into something other than a lawful seizure, so long as those inquiries do not measurably extend the duration of the stop.” Id. at 45 (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted); see also Lidster, 540 U.S. at 427-28.

Finally, we note that Bernacet does not argue that the checkpoint was illegal in itself or that the stated purpose of protecting traffic safety in an accident prone location was pretextual. He argues, instead, that it was improper for the police, at a lawfully conducted traffic safety checkpoint, to search for parole status in addition to DMV records. If he were able to establish that the checkpoint was actually conducted for basic crime control purposes and not for vehicle safety reasons, then we would likely find the checkpoint unconstitutional. Edmond, 531 U.S. at 41.