Iowa Has No Stop and Identify Law, Only a Driver License Duty

Start with what does not exist. Iowa's obstructing-justice chapter contains interference with official acts, refusing to assist an officer, escape, contraband and the rest, and nowhere in it is a duty to state your name. The provision people mistake for one is Iowa Code section 719.1A, and it runs the other way: it makes it a simple misdemeanor to knowingly provide false identification information to anyone known by the person to be a peace officer, emergency medical care provider under chapter 147A, or fire fighter, in the performance of an act within the scope of that person's lawful duty or authority. The offence is lying, not silence. Iowa's legislature added it in 2010 Acts, chapter 1078, and did not pair it with a duty to answer.

The duty that does exist is a driver's. Iowa Code section 321.174(3) says a licensee shall have the licensee's driver's license in immediate possession at all times when operating a motor vehicle and shall display the same upon demand of a judicial magistrate, district associate judge, district judge, peace officer, or examiner of the department. Iowa Code section 321.492(1) supplies the matching stop power, authorizing a peace officer to stop a vehicle to require exhibition of the driver's license, to serve a summons or memorandum of traffic violation, to inspect the condition of the vehicle, or to inspect the registration certificate. Neither section reaches a passenger, and neither reaches a pedestrian.

Section 321.174(3) also carries an unusual built-in cure. A person charged with violating the display requirement shall not be convicted and the citation shall be dismissed by the court if the person produces to the clerk of the district court, before the court date shown on the citation, a driver's license issued to that person and valid for the vehicle operated at the time. On dismissal the court or clerk assesses the costs of the action against the defendant named on the citation, so it is a cure with a bill attached, not a free pass.

Silence is lawful but not costless. Iowa Code section 805.1(3)(b) directs state and local agencies to formulate uniform guidelines for the maximum possible use of citations in lieu of arrest, and the first factor it lists is whether a person refuses or fails to produce means for a satisfactory identification. The others include refusing to sign the citation, insufficient ties to the jurisdiction, and a previous failure to appear. A person who will not identify themselves is therefore more likely to be taken into custody on a simple misdemeanor that would otherwise have ended with a paper citation.

Two further Iowa sections turn identification into a condition of release. Section 805.3 provides that before the cited person is released the person shall sign the citation, in paper or electronic format, under penalty of providing false identification information under section 719.1A, properly identifying the person cited, and that the signature also serves as a written promise to appear. Section 805.16(2) goes further for anyone under eighteen: a juvenile who refuses to provide proper identification or to identify the person's self may be arrested for the limited purpose of nonsecure custody, which cannot exceed six hours without a judge's order, and the officer may alternatively require surrender of the juvenile's driver's license until the initial court appearance.

1A is a simple misdemeanor. 1(1)(a) supplies it: a fine of at least $105 and not more than $855, with the court able to order imprisonment of up to 30 days in lieu of or in addition to the fine, and the fine cannot be suspended. 174A. That citation disappears on production of a valid license to the clerk before the court date, with costs assessed against the defendant. 16(2) it is an express ground to take a person under eighteen into nonsecure custody.