ILLEGAL CHARGE DOESN’T STOP COPS

Dallas police may have an identity crisis if they ever get around to complying with a unanimous 1979 Supreme Court ruling.

The ruling reversed the conviction of an El Paso man who refused to identify himself when he was stopped by police who “lacked any reasonable suspicion” that the man had committed a crime.

But a check of the Dallas municipal court docket reveals that city police make hundreds of arrests for the charge, “Failure to ID.”

That’s even though Assistant City Attorney Mark O’Briant says it is “illegal and wrong to arrest a person for that.” It is against the law to give a false name or to refuse to identify oneself after being arrested for something else, O’Briant adds.

The municipal court’s administrative office says categories of fines are not divided by specific offenses, so it is difficult to gauge how much the unconstitutional practice adds to the civic coffers.

Bail bond offices and other establishments are doing a thriving business selling laminated ID cards with the bearer’s name and photograph on them for about $10. Such cards have no legal validity.

But then, it seems, neither does the charge, “Failure to ID.”