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Police Can Legally Stop a Vehicle in California Even If a Temporary Operating Permit Attached To a Rear Window

By Walin & Klarich

The California appellate court has held that even though a vehicle does in fact have a temporary operating permit displayed somewhere on the vehicle, if the police officer does not see the temporary operating permit, and the vehicle does not have license plates, then the stop of the vehicle is legal. People v. Dotson ?3rd Dist., Nov. 30, 2009? 2009 Cal. App. LEXIS 1904?. In Dotson, the defendant, a convicted felon, was found to be in possession of a firearm, ammunition, and methamphetamine when a police officer stopped his vehicle. Although the vehicle had a temporary operating permit, an arresting officer had testified that at the time of the stop he saw that defendant's vehicle did not have license plates. In fact, in a dimly lit parking lot, the officer had a hard time identifying even the color of the vehicle...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on February 14, 2010 (boomark / email).