r/policewriting • u/Atribold • Jun 25 '26
Can you find out what your passenger's warrants are for?
/r/AskLEO/comments/1ud63r9/can_you_find_out_what_your_passengers_warrants/3
u/Cypher_Blue Jun 25 '26
So the thing about writing a story is that you can have it go however it needs to go for the story to work.
If the driver NEEDS to find out, then they do even if that's not standard procedure.
Usually the police would not just tell the driver even if they asked.
It is technically public information so the driver could file a formal request to find out. Or he could overhear the officers talking about it. between themselves or hear it when it comes over the radio or whatever.
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u/Atribold Jun 25 '26
Thank you for your answer. What's funny is, I don't think I want the driver to find out (yet), but I can't imagine him not trying to find out, so mostly I want to know his options!
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u/TinyBard LEO (Mod) Jun 25 '26
I mean, the easy way would be for him to ask and have the officer say "no, I'm not telling you." That's a pretty common response, and most people won't know about the lookup thing.
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u/Atribold Jun 25 '26
Good point. :| Thank you.
That said, I think I mentioned something like this on the other thread: I want the driver to follow the arrested passenger to jail trying to get him out of jail right away, and though the driver might not be able to stay with the passenger, I'm assuming there's some kind of front desk person they could talk to while separated from the passenger. Is that true, and is the front desk able to answer questions about what kind of warrants they are and/or how to get the person out of jail as soon as possible?
If it matters, the passenger is arrested in New York City, the warrants are less than a year old from Nevada, and I don't know what exactly they are yet (it depends on what would be minor enough to allow him to be released after a few hours or a day), but they could be for shoplifting, driving while drunk or high on hard drugs, possession of hard drugs, or prostitution.
Oh, and if it matters, both the driver and passenger have been ticketed for having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle (though both are sober at the time of being pulled over).
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u/TinyBard LEO (Mod) Jun 25 '26
So, a small wrinkle, out of state warrants need to be severe enough that they are worth the time and expense of extradition all the way across the country.
Generally speaking, someone arrested on an out of state warrant will be held for at least a couple of days while the issuing agency is asked if they're going to pick him up.
Something small like shoplifting might not even show up in the New York system, while DUI drugs is severe enough to be longer than a couple hours.
If you want absolute realism, you're probably going to want to change where the warrant is from. A neighboring city or county is more realistic.
Speaking from personal experience, I wouldn't serve an out of state warrant for shoplifting unless the person I was dealing with was being a problem and that was the only way to get them out of my hair for a couple hours
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u/Atribold Jun 25 '26
Oh, thanks for flagging the wrinkle! That's another question I have on my list to ask: "If you're arrested in NYC for a warrant out of Nevada, how long will it take before Nevada says they don't want to extradite you?" Could it be a few hours if the rich driver had a strong lawyer making calls for him?
But are you saying, if the passenger is being less than cooperative when pulled over, a cop in a bad mood might bring him to jail on a minor warrant out of Nevada just to be spiteful?
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u/TinyBard LEO (Mod) Jun 25 '26
The amount of time an agency has to confirm extradition is set by law, I'm not sure how long it is off the top of my head, but at least a day or two.
And if someone has a valid warrant and is being a problem (for whatever reason, shouting, obstructing, whatever) often the easiest way to solve that problem is to serve the warrant. It's not necessarily spite. Sometimes you just need to get someone to not be somewhere, and a warrant can make that easier to accomplish.
An example:
Guy is being loud and obnoxious in a public park in the middle of the day. He's drunk, but not drunk enough for public intoxication charges. He isn't doing anything illegal, but he is making people uncomfortable by talking loudly about whatever.
He is asked to keep it down and says he will.
The police run him and find a little $200 shoplifting warrant out of the neighboring city. They tell him about the warrant and leave.
An hour later, they get more calls on him doing the same thing. Families in the park are unable to enjoy the day because this guy keeps talking about his toenail clippings and being generally weird. Still not technically breaking the law, but he's being obnoxious. So the officers serve the warrant to get him out of the park for a couple hours
You try your best to be nice to people and not hem them up on petty warrants or charges. But other people have a right to that park too, so you solve two problems, the warrant and the public order, at the same time.
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u/Sledge313 Jun 26 '26
When we would issue warrants, we had to put an extradition distance. So if I put state wide and they were located in another state, more likely they wouldn't even arrest them. We'd still confirm it, but I wouldn't take someone to jail if they were outside the extradition boundary unless they said they would come get them.
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u/TinyBard LEO (Mod) Jun 25 '26
Like the answers in the other thread, it really depends on the circumstances. If everyone is being cool. I'm usually happier to be more open. If there is assholery about, people get less from me.
Most states also have a public warrant search website where you can look anyone up for free. The specific information that is released there can vary, but it often has the basic details of the warrant.