What do you do if a cop asks to see your I.D?

...start speaking spanish...



if i was a little darker i would try this for sure. its a shame though its come to this. the illegals can do whatever, but as americans "show us your papers"

reply to post by Amelie


To answer your question, I would suggest checking with your lawyer and/or state law.

The following snippet refers to June 21, 2004.

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a state law that makes it a crime to refuse to tell the police one's name when stopped for suspicious behavior, a ruling that strengthens the ability of law enforcement officers to detain citizens even where they lack enough evidence for a full arrest.
source

Originally posted by Amelie
What do you do if a cop asks to see your I.D?

Show it to him or her. Why the hell not?

Just a note:

You DO NOT have to give your SSN....

With the exception of entering on Homeland Security Protected Property, be suspicious of ANYONE asking your SSN...

IT IS NOT NEEDED TO RUN AN NCIC CHECK.....

All the Officer needs is "NAME, DOB"

Now if he gets a "Hit" on the Name and DOB, He may ask for your SSN to further reduce the results of the hits and eliminate you as the suspect. At that point it is YOUR CHOICE to give or not give the SSN...

Give it, and he runs it from the car, finds out your not who he is looking for and your good to go...
Don't and he may be able to eliminate you as a suspect by your physical appearance, or.... He may need to detain you at the station long enough to verify ....

Hope this helps

Semper

There is a norm the police expect, if you do not comply with that norm you will get extra attention. Now if you believe the norm is to far away from liberty, make your stand. If a few hundred others do, the norm will actually move to liberty. If nobody does, the norm will move to less rights.

So show or don't show, it depends what you are fighting for, the long run, or the easy way. Note that I don't think showing my ID is that bad an infringement of rights. If and I stress this, if they are polite.

On a side note, guess what, its a really old trick to tell someone they are looking for a robber so that they can get someone to comply, its the old fear thing. We just want to make sure you aren't the really bad guy. Trust me, any cops out there can confirm this, it is used all the time. Personally if they feel they can lie to me, I have no desire to talk to them, it is not a nice way to treat me.

Here is the deal: If a cop has REASONABLE GROUNDS to believe that you are worthy of investigation, then he may ask for your IDENTITY, and even if it is a situation where he has no real legal right to do so, it is ALWAYS best to tell your name and address, date of birth, if you do not have paper ID.

You will have a hard time convincing a judge that it was reasonable to refuse to identify yourself to a cop. Better to tell him the bare details, you do NOT have to give a social security number to anyone, but name and address and date of birth are all that is required and needed for him to run a check if he wishes to do so. But there is NO LAW that requires anyone to produce paper ID UNLESS you are driving. Otherwise merely relating the info orally is sufficient in all states; it is a Federal decision.

So to avoid unnecessary hassles, give your identity and if driving, all required documents. But you are NEVER required to answer ANY questions, such as where you are going, or have been, or who you know, etc. You may legally refuse to remain silent and you CANNOT be legally hassled about it. Sure, the cops will bluster and nadger and hassle, but if you stand firm, they will back off. If they do not, they will be embarrassed in court when your attorney points out that you were following legal advise never to answer any questions without counsel, and wonder why the cop was hassling you for exercising your Constitutional rights.

Also, cops CANNOT use your use of your rights against you: it is NOT suspicious, and it does NOT give them ' probable cause ' for ANYTHING whatsoever. Cops cannot go to court and say: " Well, this guy refused to answer my personal questions and so I hauloed him in for refusing to obey". No way. The ONLY LAWFUL orders that a cop can give pertain to custody or safety, such as ' put your hands up ' or ' move back '. They cannot tell us to give up our rights to remain silent just because they are ' conducting an investigation ' or any other excuse. They may get mad, but so what?

Why should we citizens pay the paychecks of these cops and allow them to insult us and demean us and order us around? What other class of servants have such temerity and gaul? None. So we should expect cops to never ask us any personal questions, never bother us needlessly, be polite and modest when dealing with us, and civil. If they did that, they would find a lot more people willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. As for now, they are bullies and uncouth brutes that Tazer for fun and laugh at the misery they produce.

People who give in to them and allow searches without consent do none of us any favors: It makes the cops think that they should EXPECT us to give up our rights, and most cops will get offended and angry when you call their bluff; they are spoiled and corrupt because we have tolerated them abusing us for so long. It is high time that we took a stand, individually, to use our rights and expect cops to stop insulting us by performing fishing expeditions while we pay them, fishing for an arrest, with no evidence, asking for consent hoping that a weak and eneducated citizen will assume that they have a right to do so, and they do not.

So never give up and never give in. Tell any cops that are bothering you that you will give ID, and then remain silent. you cannot be charged with a crime for doing so, and you set an example for others.

I give it to them and get a
silly grin on my face.

[SNIP]

I just grin more.

Regards,
Lex

[edit on 1-10-2007 by sanctum]