State v. Griffin

In State v. Griffin, 183 Wis. 2d 327, 329, 515 N.W.2d 535 (Ct. App. 1994), the officer stopped a vehicle because he suspected that the driver had failed to properly register his vehicle or display issued registration plates-violations that could result only in a forfeiture. See id. at 331. The court held that the absence of a registration plate and the reasonable inferences that could be drawn from that fact constitute reasonable suspicion sufficient to justify an investigatory stop of a motor vehicle. See id. at 333. The language in Griffin clearly and unambiguously provides that an investigatory stop based on reasonable suspicion is constitutionally valid even when the suspicion relates only to a violation of a noncriminal regulation.