Originally Posted by
studentff
I'm genuinely concerned that I'm going to end up arrested some day because I'm not willing to cave into the papers-on-demand-please mentality that so many LEOs seem to have.
Irrational fear that is easily solved, carry your ID with you, or if you choose not to, fine, that's your prerogative. If you are stopped for something and you don't feel that you should have to present your ID, tell the officer that you left it at home in your most sincere voice possible. Most cops are pretty reasonable, I'm sure that everybody has left their ID at home at sometime or another. If they still ask for your name and DOB, I'd suggest giving it to them. The ACLU and the courts will all tell you that the time and place to argue the Constitution is not on the sidewalk or in the street but in the courts. If you righteously feel that you were coerced or forced to give up your name and DOB when you shouldn't have had to, by all means file a complaint with the department that the officer works for. I can just about guarantee that in the hyper critical world most agencies will at the very least create a paper complaint that will get followed up on.
Originally Posted by
studentff
It may be within the LEO job description to run NCIC checks on routine encounters, but I'm not at all convinced it is constitutional or morally right to coerce or compel citizens into producing the information needed to conduct the NCIC check, even though I'm sure it happens all of the time. LEOs may respond that the individual "voluntarily" gave the info to get the encounter over with, and that's fine as long as it's truly voluntary and they would back off if the person rerfuses. But I don't know that any request coming from someone wearing a uniform and openly carrying a badge, baton, and gun, is truly "voluntary." And I don't know how many of today's LEOs (vs yesterdays "peace officers") are willing to back down in the face of pressure from a civilian rather than "dominate, intimidate, control" as per their training.
What information do you think is contained in NCIC or any CJIS for that matter that you are so concerned about? If you don't have any warrants, aren't on probation, don't have any restraining orders against you, and don't share a very common name and common DOB, guess what, the officer is going to start at about 7 blank pages of returns from various databases.