SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, introduced the Identity Confirmation Act to give law enforcement the tools to fully confirm a motorist’s identity, which plays a key role in protecting the public.
AB 346 will require a motorist, who is lawfully detained in a traffic stop, to present his or her full face to a law enforcement officer as a part of the identification process. Verifying ones identity is a necessary component in traffic stops. Current law states that a motorist must present law enforcement with a driver’s license or “satisfactory evidence of his or her identity for examination” when pulled over for a traffic stop.
“Keeping our law enforcement officers safe on the job needs to be a top priority and I believe this bill is a first step towards achieving that goal,” Wilk said.
The idea for the bill was brought forth by former Simi Valley Police Officers Association President, Chris Coulter who stated:
“Under current law a person is not required to reveal their face as a form of positive identification. This can cause delays in proving the true identity of the individual and possibly result in the misidentification of a subject. The only recourse currently available is to take an extended period of time to try and convince the detained person to reveal their face voluntarily and failing that, book the subject into jail where the covering will be forcibly removed. All of this can take hours whereas if the law were clear and unambiguous that revealing the face were a requirement, the process can be expedited. The police have a responsibility to assure that they correctly identify a person placed in legal jeopardy due to a citation or an arrest. This law will help assure that the identity of an individual is confirmed before someone is placed at risk and an officer is not unnecessarily delayed trying to process an arrestee.”