A new Ohio law taking effect this fall requires drivers and passengers to provide their identifying information to police officers during traffic stops or face charges. The law expands the previous requirement that only applied to certain criminal offenses, now covering all motor vehicle-related offenses.
Key Provisions
Under the law, if an officer stops a vehicle for a suspected violation, the people inside must provide their name, address, and date of birth. However, this does not mean officers can randomly stop people to identify themselves; they still need reasonable suspicion of a traffic or motor vehicle law violation before making a stop.
Proponents argue that the law clears up a gray area about when officers can demand identification. The bill received support from the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, county prosecutors, and the Fraternal Order of Police, who stated that motorists are more frequently refusing to identify themselves, making it harder to issue tickets or investigate crimes.
Medina Police Chief Edward Kinney, representing the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, testified that the bill would eliminate a gap in current laws that led to legal ambiguity and risk for officers. Higher courts had limited the use of obstruction charges under the current laws.
Failing to disclose identifying information during a traffic stop can result in a charge for a new crime, a 4th-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a $250 fine and up to 30 days in jail. The law also expands the offense of resisting or interfering with an official to apply to all peace officers in the state, increasing the penalty to a 2nd-degree misdemeanor, which can be punished by a $750 fine and up to 90 days in jail.
The law applies to motorized vehicles but not bicycles or horse-drawn buggies. Opponents have argued that the law could lead to more arrests for nonviolent offenses and have an outsized impact on communities that already experience higher rates of police stops.
Zach Miller, of the Ohio Public Defenders office, called the law a dramatic expansion that allows people to be charged with an obstruction offense based on a routine stop. He urged lawmakers to consider narrower language that didn’t increase penalties for low-level traffic encounters.
Though the bill expands police authority and increases penalties, it explicitly notes that a person does not have to answer questions from law enforcement other than their name, address, and date of birth.
Original reporting: Signal Akron — read the source article.
