Stop & Identify Laws

Alabama Code § 15-5-30 lets a named list of officers stop a person who is abroad in a public place on reasonable suspicion of a felony or other public offense and demand three things…

Alaska has no stop-and-identify statute. Nothing in the Alaska Statutes makes it an offence to decline to give a police officer your name, and there is no general obstruction offence…

Arizona does have a stop-and-identify statute, but it is a narrow one. A.R.S. § 13-2412 compels you to state your true full name only after a peace officer has lawfully detained you on…

Arkansas never enacted a general duty to give your name to a police officer. The one place refusing to identify yourself is an element of a crime is the loitering offense at Ark. Code…

California has no general stop-and-identify statute. The old Penal Code § 647(e), which required a person lawfully detained to give "credible and reliable" identification, was held…

Colorado writes the demand into statute and then declines to punish the refusal. C.R.S. § 16-3-103 lets a peace officer who reasonably suspects you of a crime stop you and require your…

Connecticut has no general stop-and-identify statute. A full-text search of the General Statutes returns no offence of refusing to give a name to a police officer on the street. The…

Delaware has a genuine stop-and-identify statute. Under 11 Del. C. § 1902(a) a peace officer who has reasonable ground to suspect a person abroad or in a public place is committing…

The District has no statute that makes it an offence for a person on foot to refuse to give a name to police. The duty that does exist is tied to driving: D.C. Code § 50-1401.01(c)…

Florida has no general stop-and-identify statute. The Florida Stop and Frisk Law, Fla. Stat. § 901.151(2), lets an officer temporarily detain you to ascertain your identity when…

Georgia's duty to identify is written into the driver licensing code rather than the criminal code. Under O.C.G.A. 40-5-29 every licensee must have the licence in immediate possession…

Hawaii has no statute that obliges a person to identify themselves to police generally. The duty exists only where a specific chapter creates it. HRS §291C-172 requires anyone detained…

Idaho never enacted a stop-and-identify law. Nothing in the Idaho Code requires a person stopped on the street to give a peace officer a name, and Idaho Code § 19-603 gives officers…

Illinois gives officers a demand power without giving them a penalty to back it. Under 725 ILCS 5/107-14(a) a peace officer who has identified himself as such may stop a person in a…

Indiana has no general stop and identify statute. The one provision that compels you to give your name, Ind. Code § 34-28-5-3.5, applies only after an officer has stopped you for an…

Iowa is not a stop and identify state. No provision of the Iowa Code requires a person detained on suspicion to give a name, and the closest section, Iowa Code 719.1A, criminalizes…

Kansas is usually listed as a stop-and-identify state, and K.S.A. 22-2402(1) does let an officer who reasonably suspects a crime stop a person in a public place and demand a name, an…

Kentucky has no stop-and-identify statute. No section of the Kentucky Revised Statutes makes it an offense to decline to give your name to a peace officer during a street stop, and…

Louisiana has no stand-alone stop-and-identify statute. The duty is buried in the resisting an officer offence: R.S. 14:108(B)(1)(c) treats refusal by an arrested or detained party to…

Maine has no general stop-and-identify statute that attaches on suspicion alone. The duty in 17-A MRS §15-A(2) arises only where an officer has probable cause to believe you committed…

Maryland has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute. A full-text search of the Annotated Code returns nothing for "stop and identify," "produce identification," or "refuses…

Massachusetts has no general stop-and-identify law reaching people on foot. The duty at G.L. c. 90, section 25 attaches only to a person operating or in charge of a motor vehicle, and…

Michigan has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute. Nothing in the Michigan Compiled Laws makes it an offence to stand on a sidewalk and decline to give a police officer…

Minnesota has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute. Neither chapter 609, the criminal code, nor chapter 629, the arrest chapter, creates an offence of refusing to give a…

No Mississippi statute makes it an offence to refuse to give an officer your name. A full-text search of the Mississippi Code turns up no duty-to-identify provision in Title 97 or…

Missouri never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute. A person detained on suspicion of an offense commits no Missouri crime by declining to give a name. The two identification…

Montana is not a stop-and-identify state. Section 46-5-401(2)(a), MCA, lets a peace officer who has made a lawful investigative stop request a person's name, present address and an…

Neb. Rev. Stat. 29-829 lets a peace officer stop any person in a public place whom the officer reasonably suspects of committing, having committed or being about to commit a crime, and…

Nevada is a stop-and-identify state, and the duty sits in a statute rather than in case law. NRS 171.123 lets a peace officer detain anyone the officer encounters under circumstances…

New Hampshire has no general stop-and-identify offence. RSA 594:2 lets a peace officer stop anyone the officer has reason to suspect of a crime and request a name and address, but it…

New Jersey has no stop-and-identify statute. A full-text search of the New Jersey General and Permanent Statutes returns no provision requiring a pedestrian who is stopped on suspicion…

New York has no stop-and-identify statute. Criminal Procedure Law § 140.50(1) lets a police officer who reasonably suspects a felony or a misdemeanor defined in the Penal Law stop you…

North Carolina has no general stop-and-identify statute. A pedestrian stopped on the street commits no offense by declining to give a name, and the state's entire vagrancy article…

North Dakota is usually listed as a state with no stop-and-identify law, and that is not quite right. Section 29-29-21 of the Century Code expressly authorizes a peace officer to…

Ohio is a stop-and-identify state. Under R.C. 2921.29 a person in a public place must give a law enforcement officer their name, address, or date of birth when the officer reasonably…

Oklahoma has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute. Nothing in Title 21 creates a failure-to-identify offence, and the arrest chapter of Title 22 runs the other way: 22…

Oregon has never enacted a stop-and-identify statute. ORS 131.615 lets a peace officer stop you when the officer reasonably suspects you have committed or are about to commit a crime…

Pennsylvania has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute, so a person stopped on the street in this Commonwealth has no statutory duty to state a name or produce…

Rhode Island has a stop-and-identify statute, R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-7-1, and it is older and blunter than most. A peace officer who has reason to suspect that a person out in public is…

South Carolina has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute. A pedestrian stopped on a Columbia sidewalk or outside a Charleston bar commits no offense by declining to give a…

South Dakota has never enacted a general stop and identify law. A person detained on suspicion has no statutory duty to give a name, and the state's obstruction offense at SDCL 22-11-6…

Tennessee got its first identification statute on July 1, 2025, and it deliberately stops short of a duty to identify. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-611 lets an officer ask for your name…

Texas Penal Code Section 38.02 makes it a crime to refuse your name, residence address, or date of birth only after a peace officer has already lawfully arrested you. Being detained on…

Utah is one of the states with a genuine stop-and-identify duty, but the duty is narrower than the questions an officer is allowed to ask. Utah Code Section 77-7-15 lets a peace…

Vermont has no general stop-and-identify law. A pedestrian stopped on a Vermont street is under no statutory duty to give a name or produce identification, and nothing in Title 13…

Virginia is not a stop-and-identify state. No section of the Code of Virginia requires a person stopped or detained on the street to give a name, and the General Assembly has never…

Washington has no general stop-and-identify statute. Someone stopped on a sidewalk in Seattle, Spokane or Tacoma and asked who they are has no statutory duty to answer, and staying…

West Virginia never enacted a stop-and-identify statute. There is no offence in the Code of refusing to give a police officer your name while on foot, and no provision requiring a…

Wisconsin has no general stop-and-identify offense. Wis. Stat. § 968.24 lets an officer who has first identified himself or herself as law enforcement stop you in a public place, for a…

No Wyoming statute makes it an offence to refuse to give your name to a peace officer. Title 7 chapter 2 authorises arrests and nothing else, and the interference offence in W.S…