Commonwealth v. Cordero

We address in this case the authority of a police officer to prolong a routine traffic stop in order to investigate suspected, unrelated criminal activity. The defendant argues that State police troopers and local police officers unreasonably detained him beyond the time required to accomplish the purposes of a traffic stop, in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and art. 14 of the Massachusetts Dec laration of Rights, and thus that evidence seized from the trunk of his vehicle must be suppressed. The Commonwealth contends, in contrast, that an officer is not…