1) I was stopped I violated no law. Happens all the time.
2) nope. wrong again. I was detained supposedly for the purposes of identification pursuant to CA. state law. Only that law was applied after the fact.
CA. will do a thumb print for ticketable offenses...misdemeanor civil offenses..if a state ID is not present at a stop (my case, walking). It is for the purposes of confirming ID. If no match comes back the thumb print is in the database for next time. One cannot be held if a match is not confirmed. A bogus state ID would make for a walk with the ticket.
It is against CA state law to take me in as they did.
3) wrong again. a person who is stopped because they resemble a wanted fugitive would have to produce ID as they would be stopped for a suspected criminal offense. a wanted fugitive who has a fake state Id and is stopped for a ticketable offense must be let go with a ticket. No ID, a thumb print would be taken and a match would be found.
Don't pass GO. Don't collect $200.
don't tell me. I know the law and have read the decisions of the state Attorneys General and the courts.
Lemme guess, you're a college pre-law student too. Got that one all the time when I was a cop.
You are confusing law with practice.
1- If you were stopped with no probable cause, then he violated not only CA law, not only federal law, but the 4th amendment of the constitution. You should've sued. "PC" for a stop is mandatory. And I know, sometimes cops do it anyway without PC and it's wrong.
2- What you are describing under the civil ticket thumbprint is a practice in some states due to efficiency. We simply don't have the manpower to detain all who don't have verified ID. If you had robbed someone or committed a more serious offense, I promise you would've been detained. Sounds like the CA cop did our equivalent in SC of a Feild Interview card. Again, law vs practice. An FI card does not require violation, as it is considered a "consentual encounter". If that cop had no legal violation, then yeah, no wonder he cut you loose with a thumbprint. That card or ticket will have the name and info you provided with a thumbprint, and next time if that print matches another offense under another name, it will count as an "alias" which is listed on your ID info sheet. Thats what that is for, and it is a common practice for efficiency, because if we detained every person we couldn't immediately ID we'd have no cops on the streets working anymore b/c of manpower. So, ONCE AGAIN, don't confuse common procedure with actual law.
ONE CAN BE HELD if a match is not confirmed, it is simply a practice to not do so for most minor ticketable offenses because manpower and efficiency do not yield it (ever heard of the overcrowded jail problems? Yeah, thats why that practice exists). My point is legally one CAN be held until ID is verified. That is LAW. Now, if a department POLICY states fingerprint and release, then that is a common practive that suits that department. BUT, remember, POLICY of a department is not LAW. That CA cops dept likely had a POLICY of doing that so dumb cops wouldn't be detaining jaywalkers for ID purposes. Makes sense so far, right?
1) You HAVE NOT read the law. Tell me: If a person is stopped for a ticketable offense, and no print comes back, what name does that charge fall under? What if their prints are not in the system? Cops don't write tickets to John Doe with a fingerprint and hope the guy comes to court.
The fake ID would not work because that cop will run the fake ID number through the dispatch and California DMV, at which point that DL number would come back invalid, or come back to a different name than on the ID. Only switching the photo on another person's valid ID with a photo of you would get by dispatch and DMV check. And that does happen sometimes and an innocent person is stuck with a charge they don't know about.
If YOUR views on the law were true, why would anyone carry an ID? They could just give the cop a fake name and never have to pay the ticket. We aren't required to provide fingerprints at birth. UNTIL you are arrested, your prints are not in the national fingerprint database. So, a person with no prior full custody arrest could speed and shoplift and have simple possession tickets forever and as long as they never get taken to jail, could keep giving fake names and just never showing up for court. And they'd never be caught.
THAT is why we require, and verify, ID. For everyone. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings, but I did this as a profession for almost a decade and know more about this stuff than you will ever learn on NeverGetBusted dot com or from what your college suitemate is telling you is "true".