How to beat failure to Id to a police officer

mikedmato's Avatar
Thx horse rider, seems ill likely take that route
Let's see if I got this straight.

Cop at door asks for your name/ID. You refuse, get a free ride downtown. Four hour stay at the county's expense. Now you get the opportunity to go back downtown for a hearing. You are even considering appealing it, etc. Everything I have ever read says that an appeal is not something for the faint of heart or the non-lawyer to attempt. But let's say you are able to at some point in this mucked up scenario get all charges dropped and all of your cash back without the assistance of paid counsel. I would have to guess at best you will have tied up at least 8 hours of your time, maybe more, handling this matter that could have easily been concluded by giving the cop your name.

Even if I was retired, no need to work, etc., that is 8 hours of my life I would never get back. Seems like a lot of hassle just to prove a point that no one other than you will ever care about. That cop will not change her procedure, she will haul the next guy in who refuses to ID himself. So, what have you or society gained by your standing up to this cop?
ShysterJon's Avatar
So, what have you or society gained by your standing up to this cop? Originally Posted by tigercat
I agree with tigercat that the adult, practical approach would have been for the OP to have given the cop his name. But I can imagine the OP thought he was benefitting from his conduct. In modern-day, tea farty parlance, he might think he got to 'stick it to da guvmint.' In former days, he might have said he got to 'stick it to Da Man,' but, of course, it was a lady copy here so maybe that literally doesn't apply. Maybe he wants to play Perry Fucking Mason. A lot of non-lawyers want to do that, especially the ones who hate lawyers and paying them. But to me, it's just another cover of 'I Fought the Law and the Law Won.'