Can you ask for a different police officer during a traffic stop?
I recently came across a traffic stop question that I’ve genuinely never heard the answer to off-hand. If you’re pulled over by a police officer and (for one reason or another) feel uncomfortable with the attending official, can you request a different one? There’s a short and fast initial answer here, but the long-winded response is that it really just depends.
For the most part, if you request a different police officer during a traffic stop, the answer will be a quick and sound “No.” This is because the attending officer is presumably performing their normal job functions “properly and within reason.” Unless the officer requests assistance themselves, in their mind, there likely isn’t justification to invite colleagues to a standard, everyday traffic stop.
As such, multiple sources, including the ACLU, generally encourage drivers to comply with traffic stop processes within their legal rights. If you feel like an attending officer mishandled the stop, you can ask for their name and badge number. After the traffic stop is complete, you can file a complaint with the officer’s department.
Of course, if things get “heated” between a driver and a police officer, the officer might call others to the scene anyway.
Interestingly, there seems to be an exception to the general rule that an officer has no obligation to call for a colleague to handle their traffic stop.
Many police officers and members of highway patrol actually do grant requests for a supervisor – not another officer – to come to the scene.
Still, after I researched, even this concept appears watery. It seems that whether or not officers fulfill the request to see a supervisor depends on department policies and practices or a stop’s unique circumstances.
One attorney posted an informational TikTok claiming that police officers have zero “legal” obligation to bring a supervisor to the stop if requested.
However, some officers might call one in if they feel the supervisor will encourage compliance.
To illustrate, I found an old conversational thread on Officer.com that posed this question, and self-described police officers answered the same.
Whether officers or departments honor requests to see a supervisor immediately seems to depend on various factors. A small number of officers said they’d refuse this request and finish the stop, especially if they felt the driver was attempting to avoid an easily provable violation.
However, many others said they do indeed notify their supervisor, many of whom would actually show up to the traffic stop. However, they often remarked that the general vibe is that calling a supervisor doesn’t change the stop’s trajectory for the driver.
In general, know that an attending officer will likely refuse a request for a different police officer to complete your traffic stop. You can ask to see a supervisor, but you might not get to speak to one right away.
Per the ACLU and multiple law firms, it’s best to complete the traffic stop knowing your legal rights and file a formal complaint after if you feel compelled to.
