Massachusetts Stop and Identify: A Driver Duty Only, With a $100 Fine and Arrest Power

Massachusetts sits with California and New York in having no free-standing identification statute for a pedestrian. What it does have is a driver-specific duty, and it is unusually long. G.L. c. 90, section 25 reaches any person who, while operating or in charge of a motor vehicle, does any of the following when a police officer asks: refuses to give his name and address, refuses to give the name and address of the owner of the vehicle, gives a false name or address, refuses or neglects to stop when signalled to stop by an officer in uniform or displaying a badge conspicuously on the outside of his outer garment, refuses on demand to produce his licence to operate or his certificate of registration, refuses to let the officer take the licence or certificate in hand for examination, or refuses on demand to sign his name in the officer presence.

The signature requirement is the one drivers do not expect. Section 25 makes refusing to sign in the officer presence a distinct offence on the same footing as refusing to identify yourself. So is refusing to hand the physical documents over rather than merely holding them up, because the section separately covers refusing to permit the officer to take the licence or certificate in hand for the purpose of examination.

The section also has a second limb aimed at Registry enforcement rather than roadside stops. A person who, on the demand of a police officer, an officer mentioned in G.L. c. 90, section 29, or a person authorised by the Registrar, fails without a reasonable excuse to deliver up his licence, the certificate of registration of any vehicle he owns or operates, or the number plates furnished by the Registrar, commits the same offence. So does refusing or neglecting to produce a licence when a court or trial justice requests it.

What makes the duty bite in Massachusetts is not the fine but the arrest power sitting beside it. G.L. c. 90, section 21 lets any officer authorised to make arrests, provided he is in uniform or conspicuously displaying his badge, arrest without a warrant and hold in custody for not more than 24 hours, unless a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday intervenes, any person who, while operating or in charge of a motor vehicle, violates section 25. That places refusing to identify yourself in the same list as operating after suspension, operating under the influence, using a vehicle without authority and leaving the scene after a collision. Section 21 also provides that a person arrested must be brought before the appropriate district court at or before the expiration of that period, and that a matter otherwise cognisable as a civil infraction keeps its character as a civil infraction even though the driver was arrested for a criminal offence arising from the same incident.

One consequence worth naming: because section 25 is drafted around a person operating or in charge of a motor vehicle, a passenger is outside it. So is someone standing on a sidewalk. The Commonwealth has not enacted the pedestrian identification duty that some states carry, and searching the General Laws for the drafting phrase true name and address returns only a tobacco licensing section at c. 64C, section 36, two provisions of the ways chapter at c. 85, sections 11E and 16, and a property offence at c. 266, section 143C. None of them creates a general duty to identify.

A related duty lives in a different chapter. G.L. c. 90, section 26A requires a licence or learner permit holder to report a change of name or address to the Registrar, which is why the address an officer checks against is expected to be current.

c. 90, section 25 is punished by a fine of $100. The figure is fixed rather than capped, so it is not a discretionary range. c. 90, section 21 authorises a warrantless arrest and custody of up to 24 hours for a section 25 violation committed by a person operating or in charge of a motor vehicle, excluding an intervening Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, after which the person must be brought before the appropriate district court and proceeded against according to law in criminal or juvenile cases.

Giving a false name or address is squarely within section 25, so a driver who invents details is exposed to the same fine and the same arrest power as one who says nothing. Any traffic matter that would otherwise be a civil motor vehicle infraction stays a civil infraction under section 21 even where the driver is arrested for a criminal offence out of the same stop. c. 90, section 63 with the age, race and gender of the driver, the infraction, the date, time and municipality, whether a search was initiated and the outcome.