What is the name of your state? Kentucky.
I was involved in an accident late Saturday evening and the individual that rear ended me had warrants for a parole violation, in addition to some sort of felony warrant. I was wondering something out of curiosity, do the police always run the drivers licenses of both drivers involved or just the one who is at fault?
If there is a better thread to post this question in please let me know.
Thank you.
Oh one other thing, the officer said that the person who was arrested at the scene was "acting too nervous over simple things". If he had not acted "nervous" would have not checked him for wants or warrants?
It is safe to assume that every time an officer is taking a report on an accident or traffic related matter, that they will run the information on the involved parties through the computer for a number of reasons. They want to make sure the information they are being provided is for one, correct. With all the identity theft going around these days and the number of phony documents floating around and available to almost anyone, it is always good to be sure the information they are being handed is valid and jives with the records on file with the DMV. If they are going to issue a citation and or report which includes property damage or injuries, they need to be sure they are issuing it to the right person and that the contact information is correct as well as verifying they are the vehicle owner or have the owners permission to be operating the vehicle.
They can also see if any restrictions apply to the drivers, such as must wear glasses, only drive to and from work, must have alcohol lock out device installed etc. as this information can be important to the incident and included in they're report. They also need to verify that the involved parties actually have a valid drivers license, as quite often people move which results in things like suspension notifications/renewal applications etc. being returned to the DMV as undeliverable. So many times an officer will serve notice to a person they have stopped or made contact with regarding suspensions and what not.
Also, it is generally a good idea for an officer to know who they are dealing with. Not only to be aware if someone is wanted or a possible threat to their safety, but for many reasons. A subject may be in law enforcement themselves or another branch of government, or have a concealed weapons permit and these things are always nice to know.
There have even been incidents where someone contacted through a traffic stop is a reported missing person or person at risk. People have even been listed as deceased for one reason or another.
So considering all these things, wouldn't you run the subjects you were contacting on duty if you were in their shoes?
There are also several ways they can run a check on someone. Along with the DMV information, they can run a subject for just local city or county warrants, state warrants or out of state and federal warrants, so they are not always trying to get someone's life history and usually only request what information the situation calls for. The more information they seek, the longer it takes to get a response from all the systems, the more air time they tie up, the more dispatchers time and of course their own time as well.
I don't believe it is mandatory for an officer to seek this information in any state and they may choose not to run someone who is involved in an accident, when there is no property damage and no injuries and they will not be taking a report, or possibly they are pressed for time or en route to another call. So it is pretty much up to their discretion.
If a person is acting unusually nervous it's pretty much guaranteed they will run their information to see if there is a good reason for their nervousness.. However, if you were the one who contacted the police to report the accident, the officer would have probably ran the guy who hit you whether he was acting nervous or not, as well as running a check on whoever it was driving you're vehicle.
This hopefully answers all you're questions on what the police can, may and will do when you hand them you're identification.
