Blue lights flashing behind you? Here’s what Raleigh police say you need to know.
From 2002 to 2020, the Raleigh Police Department made over 1 million traffic stops.
An event held by the Raleigh Police Advisory Board sought to help prepare those who might get pulled over in the future.
About 30 people attended the March 20 panel at the Chavis Community Center, moderated by District Court Judge Damion McCullers and featuring Officer Christopher Melochick, criminal defense attorney Alex Marshall and Assistant District Attorney Grant Pendergraft.
Lewis Hutchinson, chair of the advisory board, played the driver in a mock traffic stop conducted by Melochick.
“Our goal is to give you as much information as we can so that if you’re ever in a traffic stop, you’re aware of both your rights and your responsibilities,” he said.
Here’s what attendees learned
How do police decide when to conduct speed enforcement?
Raleigh police weigh several factors, Melochick said, including:
- Areas with a high number of crashes
- Locations mentioned in complaints from the community
- Areas known to have traffic problems
“We want a place where we’re not interrupting traffic and making it more of a hazard than it was otherwise,” he said.
Can officers hide to catch speeders?
Yes.
“There are several different ways an officer will do traffic monitoring, and hiding is absolutely one of them,” he said.
If I do not feel safe pulling over as the blue lights come on, what should I do?
“We don’t expect you to slam on your brakes right in the middle of the road,” Melochick said. “We would expect you to find [the] nearest safe location to pull over.”
If doing so might take a while, Melochick recommended indicating acknowledging the officer by turning on your hazard lights, slowing down or putting a turn signal on.
If you’re concerned the person behind you may not be a legitimate law enforcement officer or you’re planning to wait “a considerable distance” before pulling over, you can always call 911 to verify it’s an officer trying to pull you over, he said.
“Let them know that you are going to pull over, this is where I’m planning to do it,” Melochick said.
Do officers have quotas for speeding tickets?
“There are no quotas,” Melochick said.
If I’m being followed by a police car but feel I have done nothing wrong, what should I do?
Marshall recommended pulling over in a public location.
Don’t give officers the impression you’re trying to avoid them, he said.
“Once the lights come on, you gotta pull over,” Pendergraft said.
What information do officers get when they run a license plate on their computers?
The computers are connected to several databases, Melochick said. That includes the Division of Motor Vehicles’ database, which will provide information on the car’s registration. Those databases can also check driver’s licenses for active warrants, DMV history and more, he said.
Why is it bad to get out of the vehicle?
Officers don’t like surprises, Melochick said.
“There are ways that trafic stops are typically conducted, and that is a usual, very prescribed manner where the driver stays in the vehicle,” he said. “When we start altering that, it makes everybody a little uncomfortable.”
Stay in the vehicle, including when officers are in their patrol cars running information or writing a citation, Melochick said.
“If you end up getting out of the car on a traffic stop ... the officer will get out and order you to get back in the car,” he said. “That is just for everybody’s safety.”
Why do officers touch the vehicle during a stop?
It’s not to put the officer’s fingerprints on the vehicle in case they’re harmed or killed during the stop, Melochick said. Rather, it’s to ensure the trunk of the vehicle is shut and feel if the car is on through the vibrations of the engine.
What should I do if I’m pulled over and I have a weapon in my car?
If you have a concealed carry permit, let the officer know, and they’ll ask you to keep your hands on top of the steering wheel and tell them where the weapon is without reaching for it, Melochick said.
If you don’t have a concealed carry permit, you must keep your weapon somewhere plainly visible, or you could get charged with a crime, according to Marshall. Alternatively, you could keep the weapon somewhere you can’t easily access it, like in the trunk or in a locked glove box, Pendergraft said.
Whatever you do, don’t take the weapon out, even if it’s just to throw it on the dashboard, Melochick advised.
“I would strongly advise not touching that gun while a police officer is behind you just to avoid any misconstruing of the situation,” he said.
Can I record the traffic stop with my phone, and should I?
It’s legal to record a traffic stop, but whether you should is a different matter, Marshall said.
“Cameras make people uncomfortable. They do,” he said. “That’s not true for every law enforcement officer, but it is absolutely true for some law enforcement officers.”
If you’re concerned about having a record of the interaction, the officer should also have their body-worn camera on if their department uses them, Pendergraft said — which the Raleigh Police Department does. Those recordings should be provided to you if you face criminal charges as a result of the stop.
Do passengers have to provide ID?
Passengers don’t have to provide identification during a traffic stop unless they’re suspected of a crime, according to Melochick.
Does a driver have to answer questions about their immigration status?
No, Marshall said.
Does a driver have to answer questions about where they’re coming from or where they’re heading to during a traffic stop?
No, Marshall said, but your decision not to answer questions may cause friction during the stop.
“No relationship goes well when unnecessarily you provide a hard time,” he said. “So do you have to answer them? No. If you’re not going to answer them, I would strongly suggest not answering them in the most polite way you possibly can. ‘I’m sorry, officer, I don’t feel comfortable answering any of those questions.’ And leave it there.”
Are officers required to request a supervisor if I ask for one during a stop?
Not in Raleigh, according to Melochick.
However, officers can ask for a supervisor if they think it will “help the situation to resolve itself,” he said.
You should request a supervisor if you feel one is needed, Marshall said, but a traffic stop “is not the time to tell that particular law enforcement officer that they are racially profiling you.” That’s an issue you can raise with a supervisor, if they arrive, or with your attorney if the stop leads to a charge, he said.
“Just a little caveat — our United States Supreme Court doesn’t care a whole lot about whether or not you have been racially profiled, and that spills down all the way to any of the other courts within the United States,” Marshall said. “As long as the officer had a valid reason to stop you, it doesn’t matter if the only reason they exercised that valid reason was because of your race in a court of law.”
You can always ask for an officer’s name and badge number, he added.
If I’m asked to get out of the vehicle, do I have to?
If the officer asks you to get out of your car, you must comply, Marshall and Pendergraft said.
“The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that once an officer has made a valid stop of someone, they can order them out during the course of the investigation pretty much for any reason, or even for no reason,” Pendergraft said.
When you get out of the vehicle, in Raleigh, officers will generally help you out, Melochick noted. That’s to ensure you don’t move to hurt the officer or flee from the stop, he said.
If you refuse to get out, you will likely be forcibly removed, and that can lead to additional charges, the panelists said.
Under what circumstances can an officer search my vehicle?
There are generally three types of situations that will lead to a search, the panelists said:
- A probable cause search, which stems from the officer’s belief they’ve seen evidence of a crime inside the vehicle.
- A stop and frisk or Terry frisk, which is a search of your person that occurs when an officer believes you may be armed and dangerous.
- A consent search, which is when an officer asks if they can search your vehicle or person and you give them written or verbal permission.
Should I consent if an officer asks to search me or my vehicle?
If you’re confident there’s nothing illegal in the car, it’s up to you, Marshall said — but he advises not consenting if you know there’s something illegal in your vehicle, regardless of whether it belongs to you or a passenger.
“It is much more difficult to challenge a search that was based on consent than a search that was based on what the officer believed was his or her probable cause,” he said.
Keep in mind you can revoke that consent at any time or ask the officer to only search certain parts of the vehicle, Marshall and Pendergraft said. In Raleigh, officers should inform you that you have the right to refuse the search and the right to limit its breadth, according to Melochick.
Officers also have the option to call a K-9 to search your vehicle if it won’t extend the stop beyond its typical length, Melochick said. For example, if you’re stopped for a broken taillight, the dog can’t be called if that’s the only issue the officer notes. But if the officer smells marijuana, that could give probable cause for a K-9 search.
“From the state’s position, if a dog alerts, a search is almost certainly probably going to happen,” Pendergraft said.
Does it matter if I apologize, cry or behave really politely during the stop?
“I can speak for most of Raleigh officers, and for the majority of them, especially for traffic offenses, the decision to issue that citation has usually been made before we even encounter that person,” Melochick said.
Department policy gives officers a range of options for traffic offenses, from a verbal warning to an arrest, he added.
“If you are very polite and you acknowledge what you did was wrong and ... I don’t believe that you’re going to continue to commit this offense,” that could be enough to get you off with a verbal warning, Melochick said.
Pendergraft noted that the Wake County District Attorney’s Office doesn’t generally dismiss speeding tickets, but conduct during a traffic stop can be taken into account during potential deals with defense attorneys.
“It’s something I will consider and that I think most DAs will consider,” he said.
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This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 10:28 AM.
