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Are my passengers legally required to identify themselves to the police?

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What is the name of your state? NV

If I am pulled over while driving, are my passengers legally required to identify themselves to the police?

If yes, is verbal identification sufficient or is an identification card required?

If verbal identification is sufficient, what information is required i.e. name, birthday, address, etc.?
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
To expand on Occultist 's statement: Yes if a cop asks they are required to give their name (truthfully). They aren't required to show id.
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
If I am pulled over while driving, are my passengers legally required to identify themselves to the police? Yes

If yes, is verbal identification sufficient or is an identification card required? ID can be required

If verbal identification is sufficient, what information is required i.e. name, birthday, address, etc.? n/a
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
The passengers can be ASKED anything. Whether the police can compel them to provide identification (verbal or in the form of an ID card) would depend on whether they have been detained pursuant to NV law. In NV a person who has been detained is required to identify themselves, and that could be in the form of a physical ID. The question would then become: Is there reasonable suspicion for the passenger to be detained?

If your passenger is arrested or subject to prosecution fro failing to identify themselves, you can act as their witness at trial.

- Carl
 
The passengers can be ASKED anything. Whether the police can compel them to provide identification (verbal or in the form of an ID card) would depend on whether they have been detained pursuant to NV law. In NV a person who has been detained is required to identify themselves, and that could be in the form of a physical ID. The question would then become: Is there reasonable suspicion for the passenger to be detained?

If your passenger is arrested or subject to prosecution fro failing to identify themselves, you can act as their witness at trial.

- Carl
Yes you are correct:

Nevada's law says that police may detain anyone "under circumstances which reasonably indicate that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime," and that "any person so detained shall identify himself, but may not be compelled to answer any other inquiry."

Just sitting in the passenger seat of a car which was stopped for a traffic violation hardly seems like reasonable suspicion of being invovled in a crime to me.
 

mike_lee

Member
I wonder how the Supreme High Court ruling will effect this, If now the passenger is considered "seized" along with the driver that would increase the passengers obligations while granting new protection.

“Today’s decision means that the police will no longer receive a free pass to violate the Constitution when they stop a car and its passengers without reason to believe that anyone in the car has violated the law. By recognizing that the average passenger does not feel free to leave the scene when the police pull over a car, the Court’s decision reflects commonsense. By holding that both passengers and driver can object to an unconstitutional stop, the decision properly deprives the police of what would otherwise be a virtual invitation to engage in racial profiling.”
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Again, to hold the passenger the police would need to have lawful cause to detain the person. Or, for safety, we can hold a person put. Whether a detained individual is forced to provide ID depends on the laws of the state in question.

Any and all such detentions have to be evaluated on the details of the contact. There is no blanket one-size-fits-all answer to this question other than, "It depends."

- Carl
 

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