DeKALB | Every week, the Northern Star will uncover the truth about police myths.

Busting this week’s myth is Lt. Carl Leoni of the DeKalb Police Department.

Myth:

An officer has to pull you over within a mile from the point he or she started following your vehicle.

“No; an officer can pull you over if he notices a violation at any time,” Leoni said.

The history of this myth can be attributed to the amount of time it used to take an officer to get information regarding the vehicle.

“We used to have to call things in,” Leoni said. “Dispatch would run it on a computer and whenever they got the information, they’d call us back.”

Now, squad cars are equipped with computers that can check license plate registrations in moments. This quickens the amount of time taken from registration check to traffic stop if a violation is observed.