In DC you are required to register your bike with the police. It costs a dollar or something, and they put a sticker on the frame. If your bike is not registered, it can be confiscated. To get it back, you have to figure out where it is (police station or impound lot), and then prove that you own it by showing a reciept.

I tried to register my bike once at a DC fire station. The guy said he'd have to go get his engraving tool so he could etch the number on the tube of my bike. I left, quickly.

The police claim that this is a way to deter bike theft. Problem is, NOBODY knows about it. I'll bet most cops don't know about it.

Oh, and if you're riding a bike, you have to carry ID.

We should all know by now that getting uppity with the cops is a no win situation. They have power.....and they WILL use it whether they are entitled to or not. I don't like it but that is the reality.

There was a guy here in Toronto (he shall remain nameless to protect the stupid) working as a messenger. I think we all know that many folks have worked in places that perhaps they might not totally be legally allowed to. He got into a confrontation with a cab driver. Cops are called. They ask him for I.D. Instead of just giving a fake name or his real name he refuses. Cop then places him under arrest for refusing to identify himself. If he can be arrested here in good ol Canada I can only imagine what the penalties are in Patriot Act territory. After placing this guy in the back of the cruiser the cop proceeds to search his bag. Voila! A bag of a green leafy substance.....4 months worth of cheque stubs....and his U.S. I.D. he had a great time detained at the airport for a week and a half until the powers that be decided to deport his sorry ass home. Moral of the story.....If you are polite and dont give the cops attitude, most of the time they wont hassle you. O.K.......some of the time.

the DC bicycle registration is a joke, WABA (I believe) went to a number of different police stations and found that many of them did not have the stickers and would ask the cyclists to come back later or go to another station; and also that many did not even know about the law. also they often put it on the bottom bracket shell or bottom of the down tube, and many DC cops used lack of a visable bicycle registration as a pretext to harass cyclists of color. since theyre usually on the bottom of the bicycle which isnt visible DC cops now have to stop you for something else if they want to check registration.

for dealing with police: https://www.aclu.org//police/gen/14528res20040730.html

SIR, your papers please.

as far as i know, and have experienced, a cop can ask you for your id, but it's a voluntary exchange unless there's probable cause that you've committed a crime. if you don't want to show it and haven't committed a crime or violation, you can tell the cop that that's a voluntary request, you haven't been involved in a crime and that you don't need to show id. if you do as was suggested earlier and ask, "am i under arrest? am i being detained?" and they say, "no." you don't have to show them anything. nor do you have to let them search your bag or yr person. nor do you have to give them your name or address--NOTHING. if they answer, "no," just be on yr way.

it's the same when cops tell you you can't take a picture of something. there's no such rule. it's another issue of voluntary compliance. you can tell them, "you can suggest that i not take a picture of that, but can you cite the ordinance that gives you the authority to demand it? there's no such law. it's an issue of voluntary compliance and i'm not going to comply."

cops abuse voluntary compliance all the time. don't give them that power.


an example of the ID thing is this. at the bike bloc at the RNC, my girlfriend and i were separated when the cops swooped in. she got arrested and i didn't. she had no id. the cops asked. she didn't have it. they didn't care. she received 6 charges (all dropped) and none was anything having to do with not having id. when she asked her lawyer about the id thing (the cops had said they had to hold her longer since she didn't have any). the lawyer said that that's the only reason cops ask for it. it makes things quicker for them. otherwise you have to be fingerprinted and yr prints and SS number have to be sent to albany where they verify that you have or don't have a record and that the SS number you gave belongs to the person you claim to be.

but, as stated above, carrying an id does make it easier to identify you in a fatal accident. but just cos you carry an id doesn't mean you need to show it.

My guess is that a car got scratched by a cyclist, but the reworded who hit who to make people more agreeable.

Follow up:

Today I caleld and filed a complaint with the substation. The cop at the other end told me to the best of his knowledge you are not required to show an id. I told him the odds were very good that i was a tool that night but that was the part that bothered me. I told him it wasn't an official complaint but i wanted the parties involved to get the correct information.

Basically im fine with that.

probably an ANC commisioner lied to the cops again

Think of the possibilities if you were black. Or middle eastern looking.

my tude is what demands that they respect me. when you know the law and let them know that you know it, they don't want to bother. you don't need to be disrespectful or snide to them unless you want to, but there's definitely no need to cooperate with someone who's just pushing you around because they think they can. that's inexcusible. if more people knew the law and stood up to authority who abused it, this country'd be a way happier place.

so, i respectfully disagree with you. others may find yr perspective more digestible though. i think it's good to have both sides out there. but as the cop tols kurrekarm when he complained, you don't have to show them id, which is to say, if you know that you don't have to cooperate, you don't have to cooperate.

ID is NOT required to ride a bike in most states. In fact, ID is not required for most things you do public. You are NOT required to carry ID with you when you walk outside your house. However, as stated above, if you don't have an ID with you while riding, you better not run any stop signs, because if you're caught, your chances of being arrested is bigger. However, most of the time, they just take a fingerprint if you don't have an ID.

arrested once confronted dozens of times. i've been wheatpasting 2-stories up a building that i scaled, had a searchlight shined on me by a squadcar in soho, had a conversation with the cops and not been arrested or ticketed. in fact... they liked my posters and said that i was lucky that they understood that, "soho was a place for art, cos there are other cops on the beat who'd try to drown me in my bucket of paste." (posters were cut-out 4 foot tall aliens with big penises and rayguns...)

in new york, there are too many cops for anyone to "remember you."

i know when to be a dick and when not to. but judging by my arrest to conffrontation ratio, i'd say i'm doing fine.

but i'll explain myself a little... the one time i was arrested, it was for a bunch of felonies involving computer crime and credit cards. i was young, the cops showed up without a warrant, i got scared and made the mistake of talking to them and GIVING them evidence to use against me. why? because i was afraid and thought that if they showed up knocking on my door, i had to cooperate. eventually, i won in court and had my record expunged, but i learned a valuable lesson. if a cop comes knocking on yr door and you're not under arrest and they have no warrant DO NOT TALK TO THEM. in my case, they had nothing on me UNTIL I GAVE IT TO THEM.

so... i'm very uncooperative now and since then, it's never been a problem. it's ironic that of all the trouble i've nearly gotten into, the one time it became a fiasco was the one time i cooperated.

but again... that's just my experience.