The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Subject Headings (LCSH)

Traffic stops (Law enforcement)


  • Here are entered works on the law enforcement practice of stopping persons operating motor vehicles.

  • URI(s)

  • Instance Of

  • Scheme Membership(s)

  • Collection Membership(s)

  • Variants

    • Motor vehicle stops
    • Motorist stops

  • Broader Terms

  • Sources

    • found: Work cat: Open data policing, June 11, 2021:about (The site currently aggregates, visualizes, and publishes public records related to all known traffic stops to have occurred in North Carolina since 2002, in Maryland since 2013, and in Illinois since 2005) (OCoLC)1176274609
    • found: Baumgartner, F.R. Suspect citizens, 2018:title page (traffic stops) summary (the most common form of police-citizen interactions, the routine traffic stop; throughout the war on crime, police agencies have used traffic stops to search drivers suspected of carrying contraband)
    • found: Racial profiling, 2000:cover (motorist stops)
    • found: Massachusetts motor vehicle stops benchbook, ©2010.
    • found: Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute website, June 22, 2021(A traffic stop of a vehicle and detention of its occupants is a seizure for Fourth Amendment purposes. A routine traffic stop is justified if the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the occupant is unlicensed or the vehicle is unregistered)
    • found: Urban wire, blog of the Urban Institute, viewed Aug. 9, 2021(Police traffic stops: Traffic stops are now one of the most common acts of policing. Officers engaged in traffic enforcement have the discretion to decide whether to stop a driver based on a long list of potential violations, including not using a turn signal early enough, not using headlights on a cloudy day, or having a loud exhaust. Officers have further discretion in how the stop is handled, including whether they will conduct a search of vehicle, issue a citation, arrest the driver, or let them go)
    • found: Welty, J. (UNC School of Government) Traffic stops, 2010; viewed online Aug. 9, 2021(Making the stop: Legal Standard. "Reasonable suspicion [is] the necessary standard for stops based on traffic violations." (rejecting the argument that full probable cause is required for stops based on readily observable traffic violations); reasonable suspicion is also the standard for investigative stops based on more serious offenses. Pretextual Stops. If an officer has reasonable suspicion that a driver has committed a crime or an infraction, the officer may stop the driver's vehicle. This is so even if the officer is not interested in pursuing the crime or infraction for which reasonable suspicion exists, but rather is hoping to observe gather evidence of another offense)

  • General Notes

    • Here are entered works on the law enforcement practice of stopping persons operating motor vehicles.

  • Change Notes

    • 2021-06-22: new
    • 2021-09-15: revised

  • Alternate Formats

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