CopWatch: Judge and ACLU Smack Down Kansas Troopers War On Motorists

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Kansas Troopers 'Waged War On Motorists' With Bogus Stops, Interrogations

https://reason.com/2023/07/24/kansas-cops-have-waged-war-on-motorists-by-subjecting-them-to-pretextual-traffic-stops-a-federal-judge-says/

https://www.aclukansas.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/memorandum_and_order_to_show_cause.pdf

https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca10/14-3278/14-3278-2016-08-23.pdf

https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/gwlr66&div=23&id=&page=

https://www.cato.org/commentary/aclu-just-got-some-much-needed-free-speech-competition

"The Kansas Highway Patrol has waged war on motorists -- especially
out-of-state residents traveling between Colorado and Missouri on
federal highway I-70," a federal judge declared on Friday in a
scathing condemnation of tyrannical practices embedded in police
training.

Among those practices is something cops call the "Kansas Two-Step."
After pulling you over for a traffic violation and dispensing either a
warning or a ticket, a cop starts walking away, but then turns back
and asks, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

What feels like a friendly conversational question is actually
intended to trick you. As Reason's Jacob Sullum explains:

    "Police are not supposed to continue detaining you after the
ostensible purpose of the stop has been accomplished unless they
reasonably suspect you are involved in criminal activity.

    The two-step is designed to extend the encounter by making it
notionally voluntary, giving the officer a chance to elicit
incriminating information, ask for permission to search your car,
and/or walk a drug-sniffing dog around the vehicle."

Troopers are taught the technique in their training, but US District
Judge Kathryn Vratil said, "the theory that a driver who remains on
the scene gives knowing and voluntary consent to further questioning
is nothing but a convenient fiction."

"Troopers occupy a position of power and authority during a traffic
stop," wrote Vratil, an appointee of George H.W. Bush, "and when a
trooper quickly re-approaches a driver after a traffic stop and
continues to ask questions, the authority that a trooper
wields—combined with the fact that most motorists do not know that
they are free to leave and KHP troopers deliberately decline to tell
them that they are free to leave—communicates a strong message that
the driver is not free to leave."
Judge Kathryn Vratil was appointed by George H.W. Bush

The Kansas Two-Step is just one piece of a policing regime that Vratil
rightly found objectionable. In her decision, Vratil also criticized
pretextual traffic stops, in which police contrive some reason to pull
people over merely on the hope that they'll discover something they
can arrest you for.

"As wars go, this one is relatively easy; it’s simple and cheap, and
for motorists, it’s not a fair fight," wrote Vratil. "The war is
basically a question of numbers: stop enough cars and you’re bound to
discover drugs. And what’s the harm if a few constitutional rights are
trampled along the way?"

The thicket of traffic and vehicle equipment regulations, including
the ability for cops to pull you over for actions subjectively deemed
"imprudent," means anyone can be pulled over on a whim.

"Even the most cautious driver would find it virtually impossible to
drive for even a short distance without violating some traffic law,"
writes University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris, whom
Vratil cited in her ruling. "A police officer willing to follow any
driver for a few blocks would therefore always have probable cause to
make a stop."
With supplementary techniques like standing very close to cars or even
placing their forearms inside, troopers perform the "Kansas Two-Step"
in a way that makes reasonable drivers conclude they're not free to
leave, the judge ruled (WDAF-TV)

Kansas state troopers disproportionately preyed on those with
out-of-state license plates. "KHP troopers stopped 70 per cent more
out-of-state drivers than would be expected if KHP troopers stopped
in-state and out-of state drivers at the same rate...represent[ing]
roughly 50,000 traffic stops," wrote Vratil.

She found the KHP has been violating tenets set down by the 2016 case
of Vasquez v Lewis, which rejected searches based on flimsy pretexts
such as "status as a resident of Colorado." Vratil said troopers
applied "an absurd and tenuous combination of factors" to conclude
that individuals were suspicious, such as:

    Having a car with out-of-state plates
    "Seeming nervous while interacting with law enforcement"
    "Having fingerprints on the trunk lid"
    "Going on a trip with one's nephew"
    "Having a bag in the passenger seat"

Many fruitless vehicle searches were initiated by the use police dogs,
whose purported alerts are determined solely by their dog handlers.
That's problematic enough, but even genuine alerts are triggered by
mere odors, not drugs per se. That means a dog could very well alert
simply because someone who smoked pot -- maybe a car mechanic
returning from lunch or the previous user of your rental car --
touched your door handle.

In the coming weeks, Judge Vratil, who was arrested in 2019 on
suspicion of driving under the influence, will impose an injunction.
Her ruling includes a draft with provisions that would, among many
other things, require troopers to:

    Communicate to drivers when they've reached the point where the
traffic stop has concluded and they are free to go
    Inform drivers of their right to refuse or revoke search consent
    Obtain supervisory approval before commencing purportedly
consensual searches
    Maintain better traffic-stop documentation and electronic records

Plaintiffs in the the case, Shaw v Jones, are represented by the
American Civil Liberties Union. Yes, on rare occasion, the ACLU --
which increasingly throws its principles to the wind to please leftist
donors -- still manages to occasionally do some good.