Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Poice can detain you up to 48 hours for failure to identify yourself. She must have been giving them a hard time and not telling them who she was. This has been the law for ever.
"Failure to Identify" is not failure to be able to produce identification documents (except when driving). It refers to refusing to identify yourself when asked by an officer, such as refusing to give your name and telling the cop to eff off, or purposely giving misleading information/documentation. The woman in this story was willing and able to identify herself. The arresting officer will likely face disciplinary action and the police force may be sued. Contrast this with 1939 Berlin.
There is police malfeasance, crime, and such all over the country every day, and has been since the dawn of society (or police officers). All these posts of "Here's a crime, OMG black people these days!" or "Here's a crime, OMG socialism in America!" or "Here's a crime, OMG hippies!", or "Here's a crime, we now live in a totalitarian dystopia!" are ridiculous. Like someone glued to a police scanner, fretting and fuming.
you need your ID to fricking step outside and go for a walk?
I am not agreeing with the officer decision to arrest, but the reason they were able to require such was because they were in the park illegally (after allowed hours). At that point, they are in the commission of an illegal act and an officer can require the individual properly identify themselves.
It is technically legal to detain a person until they are able to properly identify themselves, but it is a measure only used when circumstances warrant further investigation.
The arrest while "technically" legal was rather absurd and something most seasoned or professional officers would avoid unless as I said, circumstances reasonably justified such a measure.
If he was so set on "identifying her", a reasonable officer would have escorted to the hotel 2 blocks away and allowed her to retrieve her identification, though in most cases, a simple check with dispatch asking for her DL number and verifying the information would have sufficed.
Not to mention, there are numerous ways for her to identify herself through the police systems, so once she arrived at the station, should could be easily identified and then they have no legal right to detain her (other than to cite her for the park violation which is likely simply an infraction, ie cite and release).
Her being in jail 2 days is rather... odd... and she has a ripe lawsuit against the department for unlawful detainment.
Did anyone read the article? This woman was detained for walking through a park after dark. She had left her ID at the hotel. Ridiculous!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.