Two-Step Kansas Traffic Stop Process Ruled Unconstitutional

A maneuever used by Kansas Highgway Patrol troopers to extend the length of traffic stops has been deemed “unconstitutional” in a new federal ruling against the agency.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil wrote the Kansas Highway Patrol has “waged war on motorists” with its “Kansas two-step” practice in a ruling released Friday, the Kansas City Star reported.

The idea behind the maneuver, which involves an officer taking steps toward their patrol vehicle before turning around to interact with the driver again, is that it allows the officer more time to find incriminating information or get a drug-sniffing dog on the scene. 

Vratil wrote in her ruling that the war against motorists is “not a fair fight.”

“The war is basically a question of numbers: stop enough cars and you’re bound to discover drugs. And what’s the harm if a few constitutional rights are trampled along the way?” Vratil wrote. 

The patrol was sued in 2019 by the American Civil Liberties Union which was representing some individuals who said they were subjected to the “Kansas two step.”

“This is a huge win—for our clients and for anyone else who travels on Kansas highways,” Sharon Brett, Legal Director of the ACLU of Kansas said in a statement. “Today’s decision validates that motorists’ constitutional rights cannot be cast aside under the guise of a 'war on drugs'. It also demonstrates that courts will not tolerate the cowboy mentality of policing that subjects our citizens to conditions of humiliation, degradation, and, in some tragic cases, violence.”

The ACLU argued that the two-step made motorists feel like they were not free to leave the traffic stop and subjected them to unreasonable search and seizure, alleging out-of-state vehicles were targeted due to the state’s strict anti-marijuana laws and position surrounded by states with laxer laws.

“These practices turn something minor like a traffic violation into a degrading and lengthy roadside detention - or worse,” Brett said in a statement. “When we give police the power to conduct these pretextual stops, assume people to be drug traffickers, and use flimsy justifications to get inside their vehicles to prolong traffic stops, we turn what should be a simple ticket-release scenario into something longer, fraught, and complicated. And in this we are also creating the conditions for police violence against community members, especially our minority neighbors.”