Officers May Not Demand ID Absent Reasonable Suspicion of Other Criminal Conduct;

Romero v. Schum, 2011 WL 505144 (2/15/11) (N.M.) (unpub'd) - The 10th reverses a ruling that a state police officer was entitled to qualified immunity. It was clearly established law that an officer cannot demand a person disclose his identity [and arrest him if he doesn't do so] absent reasonable suspicion that the person was engaged or had engaged in criminal conduct. It was not enough justification that the person might be a witness to a crime. If the officer was not authorized to arrest the plaintiff for concealing his identity due to a lack of reasonable suspicion of an underlying crime, then the arrest was unconstitutional, regardless of whether there was probable cause for the concealing-identity offense itself. The 10th remanded for the d. ct. to decide in the first instance whether there was reasonable suspicion.