Passenger Identification

[SixPointEight]

If I'm the passenger in a car and it gets pulled over, and the cop asks for ID, am I required to show it? I would figure no, since cvc says the driver must have ID, but I don't think it mentions passengers.

A spin on that, if the cop decideds he has a reason to search the car. At that point am I being detained and required to give ID? Or should I ask "am I being detained" and if he says no, take off, and if he says yes, then I just shut up?

[bohoki]

i too would like to know this it seems that in an occasion you are not required to carry id how can they legally demand it

if they ask for you to identify yourself i guess you have too
but you are under no obligation to provide them a government issued id card

[SVT-40]

A traffic stop by definition is a detention. So initially yes, everyone in the car is "detained". The officer can demand ID from the driver, and may be able to demand ID from any passengers if they may have committed vehicle code or other violations. In addition if the car or persons in the car are stopped because they match the description of wanted persons yes they can demand ID.

After the initial stop where the passenger was not involved in any violation the passenger could ask the officer if he was free to leave.

I would not recommend bolting from a vehicle on any traffic stop. Just to many scenarios where the running passenger had committed a crime.

If you try to leave a traffic stop (detention) without permission you will most likely be physically prevented from leaving and may face 148PC charges.

As far as a search. If the officer has grounds for a search any all occupants will be asked to exit the vehicle, and will most likely be patted down for weapons depending on the circumstances.


Passengers are not required to "carry" ID of any sort. So a passenger may not have ID on him. If there is a legal reason for the officer to demand ID from a passenger and the passenger refuses to provide it or says "I don't have any on me" even though the officer can clearly see the passenger has a wallet. The officer may be justified to demand the passenger show that he in fact does not have ID.

This is done to prevent the passenger from giving false ID.

There are many many variables to any stop or detention which could justify an officer demanding ID from passengers so it's really hard to set a hard and fast rule.

If you refuse to give your name or provide ID when asked during a traffic stop I can guarantee this will make the officer look harder at you, because it's common for folks with warrants or who are wanted to try and avoid being identified.

[Cpl_Peters]

Once there is PC to search the vehicle any passengers will likely be detained. This is done in case illegal things are found in the car and the driver claims that they are the passengers.

Example;
Officer makes a stop for cvc violation. smells marijuana in vehicle or sees something else illegal in the vehicle. He can now legally search the entire passenger compartment of the vehicle and anything contained within without a warrant.

He can now have all occupants exit the vehicle and beign a search of the vehicle. All passengers can now be detained if the officer desires until the search is completed.

The officer now finds a (insert illegal item here) in a back pack in the backseat. The driver says the backpack isnt his. the backpack actually belongs to the passenger and this can be verified by documents or other property in the backpack. This shows the need to detain passengers upon a lawful search of a vehicle.



The best advice i can give anyone asking these questions is to follow the 3 simple rules for avoiding unpleasant police contact.

1. Don't break the law (or try to loop-hole your way around things, some stuff while not illegal is reason enough for you to have LE contact)

2. Be polite and cooperative. If an officer asks for your ID why not give it to him? if you havent done anything wrong you have nothing to worry about and will be on your way shortly. if an officer tells you to "wait here" or "sit down" or "go over there" they have a reason to and will have more than an enough to articulate in a report why they took you to jail for not doing so.

3. Don't hang around with ****bags....especially the ones you dont really know that well. you dont know if they are on probation/parole/are going to act stupid around law enforcement.

[alex00]

As a passenger in a vehicle, you are not required to identify yourself unless there are compelling reasons for you to identify yourself. If the investigation centers around the passenger you may be required to identify yourself. If you have violated a law you will be required to identify yourself. The thing that traps a lot of the passengers up, is giving a false name. You may not be required to ID yourself, but if you do, it better be your real name.

As far as being detained, as a passenger, you are by definition detained during the stop (Brendlin v. California). The officer may decide you can leave, but you must follow all reasonable directions given during the stop. You may be asked to stay in the car, get out of the car, sit on the curb, or any number of other things. The detention starts the moment the driver submits to the demand to stop. The detention does not create an automatic requirement to provide identification. I've had a few times when a passenger out and out refused to identify themselves, and there was nothing I could do about it.

[winnre]

I'd never want to ask the officer, "Am I under arrest?" because that may escalate the entire situation to where it need not be. I do not want to force his hand.

Once I was a passenger and we were stopped and asked to get out of the car. The driver and I stood by the officer (a small female, and both of us outside the car, hmmm) and asked the driver some questions pertaining to the license plates on the car. The driver kept telling me I can go, leave, run, I did not do anything, get out of there, etc. I decided to stay right there until the matter was closed. I didn't do anything wrong but she had her hands full, I was not about to give her more to deal with.

Ironically both the officer and I laughed at these remarks from the stupid a** driver.