Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Re: Identification

The Commonwealth of Virginia has no state law that I'm aware of which requires a person to carry proper identification.

However, there are local jurisdictions such as Arlington County which have local ordinances which can require a person to identify themselves by name and address to a properly identified police officer under certain circumstances (where public safety is deemed to be involved) and failure to comply can be charged as a misdemeanor. (See Arlington Co. Code Sec. 17-13(c) Peace and good order; loitering.)

It is worth noting, nevertheless, that even the

above referenced local ordinance says nothing about a person actually having to carry proper identification on his or her person.