September 5, 2013 | OVI / DUI Law

An officer does NOT need specific and articulable facts warranting suspicion of a Columbus, OVI in order to run your license plate through a random check.  If that random check leads to a positive reasonable suspicion of criminal activity such as; driving under suspension, or a warrant…the officer will have the authority to justify an investigative stop.

Keep in mind, that a driver has not reasonable expectation of privacy in the license plate number since it is displayed openly. In fact, it has been determined by Ohio courts that it is reasonable to infer that the vehicles owner is the person driving it.

So, if you are driving your vehicle in Ohio, and you are pulled over for a Columbus OVI based on a random search of your plate number, the stop will be justified and the officer is allowed to investigate further.