if you get pulled over for a traffic stop

[legal_bs]

if you get pulled over on a traffic stop..

will they run a search based on your name or based on your license number?

 

[CdwJava]

if you get pulled over on a traffic stop..

will they run a search based on your name or based on your license number?

Here's how it tends to be done ... if you have a license, the officer will have Dispatch pull up your name and pertinent information from the driver's license number and use that information to run a state or NCIC check (not everyone checks for warrants ... the CHP does not regularly check for warrants - only driver status). If no license is presented to the officer, then he will run it through Dispatch by name and birthdate as provided by some other form of ID or verbally. If they receive no "match" on the name and birthdate for an existing driving record, then they may make further inquiries ... and the subject might be detained while they find out who he is. And any verbal identification will always be subject to greater scrutiny ... and in my state may result in an arrest on an otherwise citable violation.

- Carl

 

[legal_bs]

interesting, so does this mean that even if someone is pulled over in their home state, the warrants in that state might not come up, unless they looked for them specifically?

as for warrants, are they just added to your criminal record? so the only way to know if there is a warrant, is if the criminal record is checked.


back to the original question. if i moved out of state, and then i decided to get a new drivers license using my birth certificate, and i would just say i didn't have another drivers license from another sate. then if i got pulled over, and they accessed my information with the new license, the record would come up clean, or empty.

is there such a thing as an empty record? is there a difference between coming up with a clean record (no convictions for anything) and coming up with a record that would basically just stop at the driver's license?

 

[CdwJava]

interesting, so does this mean that even if someone is pulled over in their home state, the warrants in that state might not come up, unless they looked for them specifically?

Each state works differently. Here in CA a county may not issue a local warrant (bench warrant, traffic warrant, low grade misdemeanors, etc.) in to NCIC for even state wide distribution. many are - but some aren't. If our Dispatchers see an FTA on someone's driving history, they may call that county to see if there is a warrant.

When you run someone there are a number of databases to run them through. There may be a local system for the agency, there may be a county database for information and warants, and there is CLETS (California's database that allows access to the DMV and other state databases and which connects to NCIC). A check can be made "around the world" (also known as a Supermessage in to CLETS) or, simply for warrants, DMV, supervised release (parole), etc. Usually these checks are made as part of a Supermessage. But depending on the activity of the agency, the response may take a long time so some agencies don't regularly do it. This is the problem with the CHP. If they run someone, they are usually checking for license status only.

as for warrants, are they just added to your criminal record? so the only way to know if there is a warrant, is if the criminal record is checked.

No. A warrant is not part of your criminal history. And criminal offender records are almost never checked in the field in CA. In my state these are very protected files and we have to justify every access to them. After an arrest, or to determine if there are prior offenses, they might be checked in the field - but this is rare.

A warrant is issued into a seperate database.

back to the original question. if i moved out of state, and then i decided to get a new drivers license using my birth certificate, and i would just say i didn't have another drivers license from another sate. then if i got pulled over, and they accessed my information with the new license, the record would come up clean, or empty.

Impossible to say. If the warrant from NH was entered into NCIC, it would come up. Otherwise, if they chose to call NH then they might find out about it.

There is no universal protocol.

As for your criminal offender record - it depends.

is there such a thing as an empty record? is there a difference between coming up with a clean record (no convictions for anything) and coming up with a record that would basically just stop at the driver's license?

There is a chance that a return includes nothing, yes. Again, it depends on what databases are queried and how inquisitive the searcher is.

If all the officer requests is the license - and that is the only datyabase that is queried - then nothing else may come up. However, more and more agencies automatically check NCIC on all stops.


- Carl

 

[legal_bs]

this is interesting to learn the specifics. i have always just been guessing about how the data bases work.

a couple more questions come to mind.

what is an FTA?

and are resisting arrest and failure to appear in court considered to be low grade misdemeanors (i assume that they are, but just checking.)


what about people who acquire real licenses by forging a birth certificate or something of that nature? are there any checks a police officer or prosecutor can run, which may be able to uncover that the drivers license has nothing behind it? or does a drivers license basically give a person a legitimate identity in the united states?

 

[legal_bs]

oh. i guess you meant failure to appear by fta... but why would a failure to appear be on someone's driving record, if that is a criminal offense. i thought that would only be on the criminal record.

 

[CdwJava]

oh. i guess you meant failure to appear by fta... but why would a failure to appear be on someone's driving record, if that is a criminal offense. i thought that would only be on the criminal record.

In CA an FTA appears as an uncleared citation on your DMV record. Citations and FTAs do appear on our DMV printouts.

- Carl

 

[CdwJava]

what is an FTA?

"Failure to Appear"

and are resisting arrest and failure to appear in court considered to be low grade misdemeanors (i assume that they are, but just checking.)

It depends on your state. In my state they would likely extradite for it state-wide.

what about people who acquire real licenses by forging a birth certificate or something of that nature?

Then they have commited a felony. And unless they are a kid, chances are it won't fly because there will be an assumption that a driver's record exists in some other state.

are there any checks a police officer or prosecutor can run, which may be able to uncover that the drivers license has nothing behind it?

Absolutely!

or does a drivers license basically give a person a legitimate identity in the united states?

By itself? No. It is generally accepted as ID throughout the nation, but if you run the number and name and it comes back to something else (or something smells wrong), then the person is stuck.

- carl

 

[legal_bs]

By itself? No. It is generally accepted as ID throughout the nation, but if you run the number and name and it comes back to something else (or something smells wrong), then the person is stuck.

- carl

what else could it come back to? is that only if the license is forged itself? and then they would easily figure out that it is fake, but if it is licensed by the dmv, then it seems like it would be hard to catch someone. unless someone gets arrested for murder, then they would probably eventually figure out that the original birth certificate was a fake because they would do an extensive background check, or if there were detectives on the case, but if it is just a normal arrest, i wonder how exactly someone could get caught if the license is legitimate to the dmv.

as for failure to appear showing up on a driving record. that means that you would probably get arrested on the spot if you get pulled over in state, right?

as for driving records, these are fully accessible to law enforcement in any state, so this means that everywhere you get pulled over, they are going to see that there is a failure to appear in court on your record. would they arrest you out of state if they see a failure to apppear in court on your record?

 

[CdwJava]

what else could it come back to? is that only if the license is forged itself?

If the ID is forged, it won't match any legitimate record. If the record is forged by the use of a forged birth certificate there are other checks and balances that may come in to play ... no, I'm not going to give you a list of these.

as for failure to appear showing up on a driving record. that means that you would probably get arrested on the spot if you get pulled over in state, right?

Not necessarily. In San Diego County the jails wouldn't accept bench warrant arrests because of overcrowding. In my current county, we can arrest everyone who is elgible.

as for driving records, these are fully accessible to law enforcement in any state, so this means that everywhere you get pulled over, they are going to see that there is a failure to appear in court on your record.

Probably.

would they arrest you out of state if they see a failure to apppear in court on your record?

If there is a warrant. If there is not a warrant, you will likely be detained while they check in to it.

- Carl

 

[legal_bs]

what is a bench warrant exatly? could you tell me what the diff. kinds of warrants are?


as for the birth certificate checks.. come on. i'm just curious about how you could check on that. i'm not going to try to make a new identity. i probably won't even miss court, because my guess is i will be able to get an agreement to do probation instead of facing jail for this.. but it is interesting to know how everything works in the computers systems ect..

 

[Happy Trails]

what is a bench warrant exatly? could you tell me what the diff. kinds of warrants are?


as for the birth certificate checks.. come on. i'm just curious about how you could check on that. i'm not going to try to make a new identity. i probably won't even miss court, because my guess is i will be able to get an agreement to do probation instead of facing jail for this.. but it is interesting to know how everything works in the computers systems ect..

Now you are starting to make sense.

 

[CdwJava]

what is a bench warrant exatly? could you tell me what the diff. kinds of warrants are?

A "bench warrant" is generally a warrant issued by a judge because of an FTA. Issued from the bench, so to speak.

as for the birth certificate checks.. come on. i'm just curious about how you could check on that. i'm not going to try to make a new identity. i probably won't even miss court, because my guess is i will be able to get an agreement to do probation instead of facing jail for this.. but it is interesting to know how everything works in the computers systems ect..

When we talk to people they give you clues ... an experienced cop will pick up on things that don't fit ... be it on the ID, on his paperwork, on what he says, etc. Will they check the birth certificate? Not likely ... at least not in the field. But there ARE people that use forged documents all the time that come back to real IDs that are NOT them - they are called illegal aliens. We DO catch them, and we DO have ways to figure it out.

Much depends on the experience of the cop and/or the person making the inquiries. Where I work we have a couple of great dispatchers that would put Sherlock Holmes to shame ... they alert us to stuff that doesn't make sense and they have been responsible for us popping more than one wanted person with good phony ID.

- Carl

 

[Curt581]

With a comment like that I sure hope Carl doesn't help you anymore.

Our friend Carl is a major soft-touch. I've been following the thread and wanted to post a "quit feeding the trolls" message, but figured Carl would only go so far.

I didn't want him to give the Bozo the time of day.

 

[Heather2]

"quit feeding the trolls"

I like that!