Police officers have to fill in reports. They want to know who they’re talking to, otherwise the reports will be full of “Some guy told me this” and “This other guy was there but I have no clue who he was”. Seems fair enough to me.
Irrelevant, as I see it. The law says you have to identify yourself. Nowhere does it says you have to produce ID.
My house was burglarized yesterday. I filed a report online (my local PD has an app for that) and it asked for my driver’s license number. My assumption was: filing a bogus police report is a crime. So if they’re going to take non-emergency self-reports, they’d better be able to track your ass down in the event you’re making stuff up just to get back at your ex-wife or something.
But yeah, they could also run my record and that might even net some clues. Maybe the break-in was staged and I have a huge long record of aiding and abetting and I’m trying to commit insurance fraud or something. I can think of dozens of reasons the cops might want to verify I am who I say I am. And the house that I’m reporting as burglarized is really my house.
And frankly, I’m glad they took the time to verify all that rather than take an “arrest 'em all and sort it out later” attitude.
Now, had I been on the other side of the crime-victim equation, I might not be so pro-ID. Which might also be a clue to the cops if I hesitate to confirm my identity.
There are many stories of foreigners in Thailand being caught out without ID. As with many if not most laws in Thailand, the law is vague in this regard. Apparently Thais really are required to carry ID, but as the law is worded to cover citizens, it’s not clear if this includes foreigners. Farang (Western) residents here are forever arguing about this. Some say there is a law on the books, but no one to my knowledge has been able to point to it. Many times the cops will insist on running in a farang for not carrying ID, and if you say there’s no law against it, he’s not about to admit a farang might know the law better than he does. Some cops will even demand an on-the-spot bribe to forget the whole thing.
So I usually but not always carry a photocopy of my pertinent passport pages. This is said to satisfy most cops, but you do hear stories about a cop insisting you’re supposed to keep your actual passport on you at all times, which I’m not about to do considering some of the dives I visit. I do have a Thai driver’s license, but I keep that squirreled away too, as replacing that would be also be a big headache. But so far, I’ve not ever been asked for ID by a cop.
They think they’re Vorlons.
“Who are you?”
This sound logical, but I have had PD ask for for ID, look at it, hand it back, even as a witness, etc. Rarely do they stop and enter the info on the computer to do a warrant check.
To answer the OP- Scum will either lie, run or present false ID, so it you look like a gangster (or are in a bad area, etc), sure, it makes sense.
Some few other cops just do it for the power trip.
New York City cops will use this tactic to discourage people from reporting crimes. The police want to see their stats look good, so they don’t want people reporting crimes. If you report a crime through some channel other than 911, they’ll work really hard to intimidate you into going away without making a report. They’ll demand ID. They’ll ask if you’ve ever been arrested. They will outright lie about whether or not whatever you’re reporting is a crime (for example, they’ll say “if no one had to be hospitalized, it isn’t assault,” or “if a cab driver beat you up and robbed you, that has to be reported to the Taxi & Limosine Commission, not the police department”). They’ll say that the shift is about to end and you’ll have to come back when the next shift comes in. Do that, and you’ll get the same treatment.
Their last line of defense is simply refusing to take the report. And if you don’t just go away quietly, then the demands for ID start. And you’ll hear stuff like “if we run your name through the computer, is anything going to come up? You don’t want a problem, do you?”
Also, quite often, you’ll see that the cop at the front desk isn’t wearing, or has covered up, his badge and name tag, so you can’t even complain about him.
In the course of various jobs I have had to call police a lot over the years. I have never had to show ID, but I am asked my name and DOB routinely. And yes, the run everyone for warrants. Why not? I don’t think it’s illegal or unconstitutional. My state: Oregon.
Of course it’s not illegal or unconstitutional. It is also not illegal for you to refuse to show them the ID when asked (unless you’re stopped in your car and they ask you for the drivers license).
If the police pull me over for speeding, they don’t need to see my passengers’ ID to complete their duties. Issuing me a ticket requires only my license and registration.