JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES WITH THE MARYLAND TRANSPORTATION POLICE

Recently in Baltimore County District Court I was able to suppress a stop and the resulting arrest of a client because the Maryland Transportation officer could not prove he had authority to stop my client. The same argument was rejected in Anne Arundel County because the judge had in her chambers the Master Agreement and maps outlining the officer’s jurisdictional limits. The jurisdiction had just been expanded to include the portion of the interstate where my client was stopped. The Anne Arundel County District Court Judge acquitted anyway after it was shown that the Field Sobriety Exercises were performed in the rain, and done rather well for the conditions that existed.