If your license plate is reported to the police, it can put you in legal trouble. The following investigations might result in charges, but there may be grounds to fight them.
If the police learn that your license plate or vehicle was involved in a crime, they can begin an investigation. They may be able to pull you over down the road or come to your house to investigate further, but there might be restrictions on this. In any case, there are often reasonable defenses that can be used to stop investigations and charges, especially if you had already reported your car or license plate stolen.
For help with a criminal case, call Overson & Bugden’s Park City, UT criminal defense lawyers at (801) 758-2287 right away.
Can Police Stop You If Your License Plate was Reported in a Crime?
If the police get a report that your license plate was on a car involved in a crime, they can potentially investigate.
Traffic Stops
Police might want to pull you over down the road if they get a call that you were involved in a crime. For example, if someone witnessed you swerving or trying to intimidate them on the road and reported your plate, police might come looking for you.
Police generally need reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed to pull you over. Your license plate number alone might not be enough, so police often look for additional corroborating details from reports, such as a matching description of the car or driver. If you were reported for DUI, they will often wait until they witness signs of drunk driving or traffic violations themselves before pulling you over.
Coming to Your House
If your plate was reported and police do not find you on the road, they may come to your house to investigate. For example, if someone was hit by a car and reported your plate, the police might look up the address registered to the license plate and go to your house to look for the car.
Police can look at your car parked on the street or in your driveway without a warrant or reasonable suspicion. They can also approach you and ask you to voluntarily answer some questions. However, they cannot enter your home, go into a closed garage, or detain you for questioning without reasonable suspicion that you committed a crime.
Potential Defenses Available
If police want to connect you to a crime by license plate number alone, our Provo, UT criminal defense lawyers may be able to use these defenses:
Wrong Plate Number
It is quite possible that whoever reported the plate could have read the license plate number wrong. This is common in cases where only a partial plate was reported and the police were guessing at the other characters, or when your plate contains Os, 0s, Bs, or 8s, which are commonly misread.
Even police may misread and misreport license plate numbers. This is especially common with automatic plate readers and camera systems that get the license plate number wrong.
Stolen Plate
If your license plate was stolen off your car, you should report it as soon as you can to help protect you from responsibility for what someone else does after the plate is stolen.
In these cases, there are often simple defenses involved:
- If you reported your plate stolen before it was involved in a crime, it often shows police you are a victim, too.
- If your license plate is missing from your car when the police arrive, and you do not have the plate, the police should understand it was stolen.
- If the car that reportedly had your plate doesn’t match your car’s description, it is more obvious the plate was stolen and placed on a different car.
These issues are not always definitive proof that you were not involved, but our lawyers can explain these issues to the police and ideally point them in the right direction for their investigation, instead of leaving them to waste time investigating you for a crime you did not commit.
Different Driver
If your license plate and your car were involved in a crime like a hit and run, but the driver doesn’t match your description, it might have been someone else. This could mean that someone else stole your car or that someone else in your household was responsible for the crime.
In either case, you should get a lawyer before discussing the case further with the police and potentially exposing anyone in your household to criminal liability. Your household members should also potentially get lawyers of their own.
FAQs for License Plates Reported to the Police
Can Police Pull You Over Based on License Plate Number Alone?
Sometimes, but it might depend on specific state laws. In general, police can only stop you if they have reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed and you were involved. If they did not, it is likely that the stop, the arrest, and the charges can be thrown out.
This determination is always based on the totality of the circumstances, so police need enough evidence. A license plate number alone might not be enough, but matched with a description of the vehicle and the driver, it often is enough for a stop. An arrest, however, needs a higher standard of “probable cause.”
Do Police Need Cause to Run Your Plate?
If an officer is following behind you, they can typically use a license plate reader or type in the number manually and “run your plate” without any probable cause or reasonable suspicion needed. This is often how police find cars and plates that have been reported stolen or otherwise reported.
However, they need reasonable suspicion to pull you over after they get a “hit” on the plate.
What Should You Do if Police Investigate You for Your License Plate?
Do not talk to the police without a lawyer present. Do not try to explain yourself or convince them that you are innocent.
Often, police can use the things you say in surprising ways. However, you can simply tell them you will not answer questions until your lawyer is present, then let us explain everything.
When Should You Report Your License Plate Stolen?
If you find your car or license plate missing, report it to the police right away. If any crimes are committed with your car or your license plate, you will be the first person they investigate.
Also consider calling a lawyer, especially if the police do come to investigate you for crimes committed with your car or plate.
Call Our Criminal Defense Lawyers Today
For help with a criminal case or investigation, call Overson & Bugden’s Salt Lake City, UT criminal defense lawyers at (801) 758-2287.
