License please

October 22, 2006 3:24 PM

I foolishly parked in a no-parking spot and when I came back to my car a cop was writing me a ticket. No problem, I messed up. He asked me for my drivers license though. Since this was not a moving violation, did I have to give it to him, or could I have refused? Why did he need it? He said that not paying it would result in the suspension of my license. I should mention that both my license and tags are out of state.
posted by DieHipsterDie to Law & Government (10 answers total)

What state were you in?
posted by ifranzen at 3:27 PM on October 22, 2006

Response by poster: I live in Minnesota. My plates and license are WI.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 3:32 PM on October 22, 2006

You may get plenty of conflicting answers here, and state laws vary, but a recent Supreme Court case upheld a Nevada law allowing law enforcement to arrest people that refuse to identify themselves.

The real reason the cop asked for your ID was mere documentation. You walked up and apparently indicated the car was yours. So, umm, who are you? It may be useful on some level, should anything unusual happen (e.g. hey look, the car is stolen, or hey look, there's a warrant for your arrest).

Since anything is possible, the cop is just being thorough. The Son of Sam killer was arrested because of a parking ticket.
posted by frogan at 3:40 PM on October 22, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks, Frogan. As long as it doesn't show up in any way on my driving record, I don't really care.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 3:46 PM on October 22, 2006

frogan is right, the Supreme Court held up the constitutionality of a "Stop and Identify" law that Nevada passed.

However, Minnesota has no such statute according to Wikipedia. Read more here.
posted by dendrite at 3:48 PM on October 22, 2006

i was under the impression that the laws states all you have to is give a name, any name. not everyone carries a drivers license or photo id.
posted by jessica at 3:50 PM on October 22, 2006

Many states participate in the Interstate Driver's License Compact which can result in your license being suspended in your home state for suspendable violations in other states.
posted by prjo at 4:10 PM on October 22, 2006

In California, you can have your car towed and never even get it back, and it will still not affect your driving record.
posted by bingo at 4:51 PM on October 22, 2006

bingo is right... I had four tickets on my shitty ford contour in college. being unable to pay, they ballooned up to something insane like 600 bucks. then the transmission blew. I bought a new car, they booted the old one in a no parking zone and a few weeks later I got a letter stating they sold it at auction. when I went to register the new ride, nothing at all came up and the old tickets that should have prevented me from registering a new vehicle (or reregistering the old one) were gone.
posted by krautland at 5:58 PM on October 22, 2006

Woulda Shoulda Coulda. Next time, just walk right by and wait until the officer leaves, then deal with the problem without the officer there.

Unless it is getting towed.
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 1:15 PM on October 23, 2006