You are walking to school, minding your own business, when you notice that there

Question

You are walking to school, minding your own business, when you notice that there is a police officer standing in your path looking directly at you. You need to walk around the police officer to continue on your way. You are nervous, since she is staring at you as you approach. When you are a few feet away and she has not moved, the officer says, "Let me see some ID." You forgot your identification and tell the officer. Do you think she should have the ability to ask you to empty your pockets and answer questions about where you live? Why or why not?

Explanation / Answer

In the US, there's no law that requires citizens to carry identification papers, unless the person is driving a vehicle or is a passenger on a commercial airline.

As per stop-and-identify statute, US police may stop a person and ask to reveal their identification, if there's a reasonable suspicion of any criminal activity taking place.

In the present case, while there's no reason for police to suspect any criminal activity by someone walking to school, minding their own business.

However, if the person is unreasonably nervous by the sight of police, then that may cause suspicion in the minds of the officer, in which case, he is reasonably within his rights and authority to ask for identification.

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