Washington, DC - Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, applauded the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Kansas v. Glover which held that running a license plate check on a vehicle is not an infringement under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“We are very pleased with today’s decision and consider it a victory for reasonableness,” Yoes said. “Our highly trained and committed officers use technologies like license plate checks and their best judgement, like stopping vehicles whose owners have had their driver’s license suspended.”

In this case, a Kansas deputy sheriff ran a license plate check on a vehicle and discovered that the owner of the vehicle, Charles Glover, had his license to drive revoked. The deputy made the reasonable assumption that the vehicle’s owner was likely driving, pulled the vehicle over and discovered Mr. Glover was in fact driving his own vehicle without a valid license and was charged as a “habitual violator.” The defendant argued that the stop was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights because the deputy witnessed no traffic violations. In an 8-1 opinion, the court ruled that the deputy’s decision to make the traffic stop was not an infringement of the Fourth Amendment and was based on reasonable suspicion. When the Supreme Court decided to take the case, the FOP filed an amicus curiae in support of the deputy’s actions.

“This was clearly the right decision—to have ruled otherwise would have jeopardized the ability of law enforcement officers to make judgement calls to protect the safety of our roads,” Yoes said. “I am proud that the FOP played a role in getting this case decided.”

The Fraternal Order of Police is the largest law enforcement labor organization in the United States, with more than 350,000 members.