I don't think so. If you don't want the police to use your broken license plate light as an excuse to stop you to run your driver license, do a thorough pre-drive check of your car....

I'm pretty sure several STATES have "outlawed" pretextual stops, like Washington State maybe, or at least developed their own exclusionary rule to exclude any evidence seized as a result of a pretextual stop, but that opens a whole can of worms... You think a cop is going to admit he stopped someone for speeding ten over because he matched the description of an armed robber that was given by an anonymous caller?

I think it would be reasonable for a cop to look for a VALID reason to stop someone for an incidental suspicions if he doesn't have enough to stop for the offense he's really looking at, as long as the initial stop is valid. Should they have let Al Capone go because they really wanted him for racketeering and murder but could only get him for income tax at the time?

Another way to look at it: If people feel that the speeding stop to look at the guy's license is out of line, get rid of those violations that cops use to justify a pretextual stop.... Pretty much the entire traffic code....

And how would THAT conversation go in the police car.... "Hey, those guys in that Camaro look funny.....We're right next to them and they won't look over here. And they came out of that Chevy dealer lot and it's 2:00am..... And they're both wearing all black..... You want to stop them, they're speeding 5 over...?"

"No, we can't...."

"Why not?"

"Because we can only stop them for speeding if you really want to stop them for speeding and not to check them out because they're driving a new Camaro off the new Camaro lot at 2:00am and they're both wearing all black and they won't look at us. We can ONLY stop them for speeding if that was what you really wanted to stop them for.... They could just be looking at a different COLOR Camaro to buy because they don't like this one...."

"I'm going to drive us back to the station, after I stop this Camaro, and I'm going to tell the boss that I need a new partner because you're a moron. Be nice to the ladies in the garden club while you're hosting their community policing meeting....."