Why is it reasonable to remove a passenger from a stopped vehicle when there is no suspicion the passenger may be involved in a crime?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

It is reasonable for police to remove a passenger from a stopped vehicle, even when
there is no suspicion the passenger may be involved in a crime. The police can do this
for their own safety. The Supreme Court has found that talking to a driver while an
officer is exposed to traffic puts the officer in danger. Removing the driver from a car
is but a trivial invasion, because the driver has already been stopped. Balancing the
possible danger to an officer against the trivial invasion of removing a driver from the
car, the Court believed a request by the police for drivers to step out of their cars is
reasonable. In applying the same balance to passengers that had been applied to
drivers, the Court found that a request for a passenger in a stopped vehicle to step
out of the car is reasonable. In one sense, that of personal liberty on the part of the
passenger, the case is weaker than that for drivers. Drivers had been stopped,
because they had committed traffic offenses, but usually there is no reason to stop or
detain a passenger. However, as a practical manner, the passengers are stopped by
virtue of the vehicle stop. The only change in the circumstances that would result from
ordering them to leave the car is that they would be outside of, rather than inside of, a
stopped car. This promotes the interest in officer safety. Outside the car, passengers
would be denied access to any possible weapons that may be concealed in the
vehicle's interior.
The Court recognizes that traffic stops possess the possibility of violent encounters.
This does not stem from violation of the traffic laws, but from the fact that occupants
of a vehicle may fear that evidence of a more serious crime might be discovered during
the stop. A passenger would have the same motivation to employ violence to prevent
arrest for a more serious crime as a driver would. Like with the driver, the additional
intrusion imposed by the order to leave the car would be considered minimal, thus doing
so is reasonable.