Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Legally detained or not?

I do not agree with my esteemed colleagues that pedestrians or bicyclists necessarily have a legal obligation to give ID to a police officer in California. The recent U.S. Supreme Court case of Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District of Nevada (http://papersplease.org) upheld a Nevada law that requires people to provide ID to police officers when asked. I am not aware there is a similar law in California. However, a recent California Supreme Court decision upheld an arrest of a bicyclist that started by the bicyclist's not having ID (because he did not show ID, he was searched, and his drugs were found). People v. McKay, 27 Cal.4th 601 (http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/cal4th/27/601.html) As a practical matter, refusing to provide ID to a cop will quickly lead to your arrest for Contempt of Cop, which is nowhere to be found in the law books but which is nonetheless all too real. As for as your other question, yes, you either are or are not detained. The yin of "Am I under arrest?" is equally balanced by the yang of "Can I go now?" There is a popular sticker (http://www.quickdistco.com/stickers/us/saiularge.gif) with one message on one side, and the other on the other. By politely and repeatedly asking if you can go, you are making it clear (in case the encounter escalates to a searach and/or arrest) that your detention is not a mere "consensual encounter." See also http://www.fdap.org/downloads/seminar-criminal/trafficstopsandsearches.doc

Re: Legally detained or not?

When stopped by a peace officer and asked for identification, you must comply. You can be polite and state that that is all you are going to do. You don't have to answer any questions. You may state ''sorry, officer, but I will not answer any questions.'' YOu must remain with the officer if he is detaining you until he says you are free to go.

Re: Legally detained or not?

If he did this for no reason at all, then you were seized improperly. But if he wanted to ask you some questions, reasonably believed you might have committed or witnessed a crime, wanted to alert you to a dangerous situation, etc., then his actions were legal.

And yes, you have to identify yourself to the police if asked. Otherwise, how could they identify witnesses they interviewed? Even if you aren't a witness or a suspect, they might mistakenly believe you are; identifying yourself may quickly reveal such a mistake.