Reply #9: I'm not a lawyer. [View All]

[jp11]

I was under the impression that the police could not ask about papers unless in the context of enforcing laws they were involved with the person. The idea of being stopped for speeding was used as an example, and when I saw interviews it was stated they could not simply stop you on the street for no reason and ask for papers.


The following may not have been signed yet I got tired of searching through all the blogs/news stories about boycotts on AZ etc.

The Arizona House approved several new changes to Arizona's new immigration law
. The changes still need final approval from the Senate before being passed along to the governor. If Gov. Jan Brewer supports them, they would go into effect at the same time the new law would.
The phrase "lawful contact" would be changed to "lawful stop, detention or arrest" to clarify that an officer would not need to question a crime victim or witness about their legal status.
The word "solely" would be eliminated from the sentence "A law enforcement official or agency … may not solely consider race, color or national origin" in establishing reasonable suspicion that someone is in the country illegally.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/arizona-lawmakers-clarify-lawful-contact

For the record while the changes seem to be better I can argue that a police officer can come up with several reasons for a lawful stop or detention such as an outdated ordinance. At the very least it allows a LEO to not ask for papers unless they are involved with a person for a real 'crime/stop' but it is up to the officer if they want to stop people for say 'wearing blue jeans on a weekday if an ordinance prohibits it.