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New York law, in your pocket.
New York criminal and traffic statutes, the New York decisions that interpret them, and field guides that walk the call — built from published state sources, on your phone with no signal needed. Covers Penal Law and VTL.
STATUTE DETAIL IN THE APP
(NEW JERSEY SHOWN — STATE PACKS RENDER THE SAME)
The rules that are New York’s own.
Federal cases set the minimum. New York’s courts have their own answers — and those are the ones that control your stop, your search, your report.
People v. Galak
Following a department procedure is not enough — the procedure itself has to be constitutional. Lynbrook officers impounded a car with mismatched plates and a registration more than a year expired after neither occupant could produce a license, and the ‘inventory’ turned up a dagger, a blackjack and an ignition device. The officer knew of no written regulations, decided case by case what to keep and what to hand back, and filled out the standard inventory form five hours later at headquarters. The Court of Appeals reversed, suppressed everything, and dismissed the indictment: the procedure ceded ‘uncanalized discretion’ to the field and never produced a usable inventory.
80 N.Y.2d 715 (1993)READ THE OPINION →
People v. Guthrie
12:15 a.m., Village of Newark: an officer watched a car drive past a stop sign at a supermarket parking-lot exit, stopped it, smelled a strong odor of alcohol, and made a DWI. The sign was never registered in the Village Code, so under VTL § 1100(b) the stop-sign charge was legally impossible — the People conceded she could not be prosecuted for it. The Court of Appeals still upheld the stop and reversed suppression. The question is not whether you were right about the law; it is whether your belief that a violation occurred was objectively reasonable, and New York draws no distinction between reasonable mistakes of fact and reasonable mistakes of law.
25 N.Y.3d 130 (2015)READ THE OPINION →
People v. Garcia
“Anybody got any weapons?” is a Level 2 common-law inquiry. On a lawful car stop you still need founded suspicion that criminality is afoot before you ask it — and nervous occupants do not get you there.
20 N.Y.3d 317 (2012)READ THE OPINION →
FIELD GUIDES — STEP-BY-STEP FLOWCHARTS
The call, one decision at a time.
DV, juveniles, hospital holds, use of force, traffic — each guide walks the fork in the road with the New York law and procedure built in, the way an FTO would talk you through it.
New York paper plates, decoded.
Is this an in-state NY temp plate?
NYS does NOT issue in-state paper temp plates. The only paper temp plate NYS DMV issues is the MV-639ITP Intransit Permit for vehicles going OUT OF STATE. Any other “NY” temp tag is a counterfeit.
MV-6TOP on private vehicle?
MV-6TOP Temporary Official Plate is ONLY for Political Subdivisions (local government vehicles). Found on a private vehicle = almost certainly stolen/misappropriated.
Intransit mounting check
MV-639ITP must be in the REAR WINDOW or on the DASHBOARD. Not weatherproof. Exterior mounting damages it and is a mounting violation.
The temp-tag scanner is free for verified law enforcement — with or without a subscription. SEE HOW THE SCANNER WORKS →
Federal cases that reach every New York stop.
Pennsylvania v. Mimms (1977)
Ordering the driver out on a lawful stop — what it covers, and what it doesn’t.
Arizona v. Gant (2009)
Once the arrestee is secured, the automatic car search is gone. The two narrow windows that remain.
Riley v. California (2014)
Seizing the phone is one question. Searching its data is another.
Cross the line, keep the reference.
Task force, bi-state agency, or a beat near the border — every state gets the same breakdown, and the FEDERAL KIT travels with you.
NEW JERSEY → PENNSYLVANIA → CONNECTICUT → MASSACHUSETTS → VERMONT → ALL STATES →
The New York kit. Free trial available.
Full Patrol Kit $24.99/yr · Essentials $9.99/yr · Lifetime $69.99 once — SEE PRICING →
Counts reflect the current New York content pack, are not guaranteed, and change with each content release. DEPARTMENT LICENSING →