People v. Bartelt

This appeal squarely presents the question of whether a police officer’s order to a driver, during a routine traffic stop, to perform a “set-up” procedure to facilitate a canine sniff for narcotics, is an unreasonable seizure which violates the fourth amendment. It is my view that it is. Despite the fact that this precise issue was litigated by the parties in the circuit court, and even though the majority’s own recitation of the factual background and procedural history of this cause repeatedly references seizure principles, my colleagues decline to analyze this appeal in the context of…