Arizona House of Representatives Bill 2305, which would make it a criminal offense in Arizona for a passenger in a motor vehicle to fail to provide ID to police in certain circumstances, was approved in panel yesterday.
Although Deputy Pima County Attorney Kathleen Mayer, who testified in favor of this bill before the Arizona House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, did not say this explicitly in her testimony however the purpose of the bill is to give police a legal excuse to search, arrest and convict people of a crime wholly unrelated to the supposed reason for the traffic stop. Ms. Mayer was quoted in the Daily Sun article as saying, “if someone is breaking the law… could be as simple as failing to wear a seat belt….The real key is providing a tool for police. Only if officers have some legal right to seek identification — and then charge someone who refuses to provide it — will they be able to search the person and find out if they’re carrying drugs.”
In short under Ms. Mayer’s reasoning the purpose of the proposed statute is not to investigate the original violation, failing to wear a seat belt for example, but rather to use the original violation as a pretext to conduct a legal fishing expedition for other possible crimes, even though the officer had no basis to believe the person was committing any other crimes. Moreover, the effect of the proposed legislation would be to require all people to at all times carry legal identification, because under this law if a person is suspected of a non-criminal violation, such as failing to wear a seat belt, and they do not have legal I.D. with them they would be guilty of a crime.
Let’s take an example which can easily happen (and will, if the legislation is passed) – a person is a passenger in a vehicle stopped for a traffic violation and left their wallet at home; they took off their seat belt before the officer approached. In this scenario they would be subject to search, arrest and be charged with a crime, even though they had done nothing illegal. This proposed bill is but one more example of how prosecutors assault our civil liberties by attempting to criminalize innocent behavior.
Click the link below to read more about this issue from the Arizona Daily Sun:
Gordon Thompson
https://www.gordonthompsonattorney.net/
https://www.gordonthompsonattorney.net/blog/
For more information about Arizona dui and criminal law issues please contact Gordon Thompson who has used his experience to write a blog on topics of interest. You can also chat with Gordon about your specific questions. Website: https://GordonThompsonAttorney.net
