My first police encounter in the US

[No name 88 48]

You do not realise you need to carry your Passport?

Sounds like you were lucky.

In the US there is no legal requirement to carry ID if not operating a motor vehicle. You don't even need an ID to fly domestically as long as your willing to submit to a complete search of your person and baggage. You do have to identify yourself if detained by police but this my just be you telling them your name.

You can be denied service for not having ID such as buying alcohol, checking into a hotel, bank services, etc. So yeah you should carry one to make life easier.

[Avery Cates 1,141]

What do you make of this incident?

You two were driving around a neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning. It tends to arouse suspicion, especially if you were circling around an area or making repeated drives past the same area.

He wasn't hassling you because of racial profiling. He was doing his due diligence based on the circumstances.

[Boiler 43,576]

In the US there is no legal requirement to carry ID if not operating a motor vehicle. You don't even need an ID to fly domestically as long as your willing to submit to a complete search of your person and baggage. You do have to identify yourself if detained by police but this my just be you telling them your name.

You can be denied service for not having ID such as buying alcohol, checking into a hotel, bank services, etc. So yeah you should carry one to make life easier.

Wrong, check before you make such statements, you could get someone into big trouble. Not cool.

[Cathi 5,616]

This wasn't racial profiling, it wasn't like he knew you race before pulling you over, it was 1am and dark, he couldn't see what race you were. You were pulled over because you were hanging out in a parking lot in the middle of the night. He let you go. Why complain about nothing, and possibly cause even more problems for yourself?

[Cathi 5,616]

In the US there is no legal requirement to carry ID if not operating a motor vehicle. You don't even need an ID to fly domestically as long as your willing to submit to a complete search of your person and baggage. You do have to identify yourself if detained by police but this my just be you telling them your name.

You can be denied service for not having ID such as buying alcohol, checking into a hotel, bank services, etc. So yeah you should carry one to make life easier.

there is a requirement for have his passport on him at all times if he doesn;t have his green card yet.If he had his green card he is required to have it on his person at all times. He isn't a US citizen.

[razspaz13 30]

I spoke with a law enforcement person about this

neither they, nor I could see any racial profiling

questions regarding the height and weight could have been regarding a " person of interest" in the area who may have been doing something illegal and you may have even matched the description

the 1 am outing would take more interest to a police officer than 2 pm daylight, I would be happy with any police working at 1am on patrol

I know of many blond hair blue eyed americans that get asked many unusual questions when encountering the police so don't worry happens to many, my fave to me was "why do you drive on the highway at 5 am"? ahhhhh....because I like to beat traffic, is that now illegal? (ok I was a bit sassy LOL). I was on my way to work which back then was an hour commute!!

very nice of you to feed the cats!

[leonidas_alexan 44]

I would like to thank all the posters for spending their time and sharing their opinions. It was greatly educative and informative.

I think I agree with the sentiments expressed here --mainly the combination of me not carrying my passport with me and driving around at 1 am.

Just want to clarify to a couple of posters that we were not "hanging around a parking lot". I think I made it clear in the OP that we were stopped. When we were stopped our vehicle was in movement.

And as I clearly mentioned in the OP my wife only had a fleeting thought about making a complaint--and that is believe since she is my wife she has in all probability reacted emotionally than objectively. And to be honest the idea of a complaint was only a fleeting one more based on emotion than reason-- precisely the reason why I made the post here so that I--as a recent immigrant can learn and hear from a neutral/3rd person perspective.

To the poster complimenting us on feeding cats--thank you very much. The owner of the trailer was having issues with the cats and sought the help of my wife. We captured all of them now and neutered/spayed them and we managed to take in a few cats ourselves.

Once again thank you very much for all the information and look forward to learn more.

[No name 88 48]

Wrong, check before you make such statements, you could get someone into big trouble. Not cool.

Yes there is a Federal law requiring you to carry a green card at all times but no cop is going ask for it as no state has a legal requirement for any person to carry an ID. Show me one case where someone got deported for not carrying their green card other than an ICE raid and I'll take it all back.

Half the country smokes pot yet federally it's illegal. State laws vs Federal laws; we all loose.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Todd&Hanh

[Boiler 43,576]

So you acknowledge what you posted was incorrect?

[abella 13]

It sounds like they were looking for a suspect and they perhaps were looking for someone within a certain weight and height.

[No name 88 48]

So you acknowledge what you posted was incorrect?

Fine if you see it that way.

Personally once my wife's green card is staying in the safe deposit box. She'll just carry a photocopy unless it's needed for something.

[UncleBeer 244]

Show me one case where someone got deported for not carrying their green card other than an ICE raid

Hey, OpenBorders via presidential diktat. Everyone's welcome (except those of us who filed all the papers and paid $$$ to DHS; we're viewed with great suspicion...)

[britishdakota 18]

You do have to identify yourself if detained by police but this my just be you telling them your name.

This varies from state to state.

[Sukie 1,440]

.

In the US you are not required to carry an ID unless you are operating a motor vehicle. When I'm overseas I don't carry my passport when walking around; just a photocopy of the biometrics page and visa page in my wallet. If they police need my passport they can go get it from my wife or the hotel.

Todd&Hanh,

This is not true for all states. In Alabama, if you are a foreign national, you are required to carry your ID with you AT ALL TIMES. There is a Mercedes plant in Alabama in a small town. A fairly high-up German manager from the home office was arrested and detained because he did not have his ID on him. It was back in the safe in his hotel room. It had nothing to do with racial-profiling - the German man was an Aryan-looking as they come.

My partner is totally paranoid about being without her ID when we travel to visit my parents in the South.

It's not a strange thing to me - I've lived in Japan and Hong Kong, and was always required to have my ID on my person if I was not at my apartment.

Sukie

[Darnell 8,478]

I want to share a certain police incident involving me and I am not quite sure what to make of it. While my wife believes there is perhaps a strong element of racial profiling- I myself did not know what to make of it. Originally I am from India but have moved to the US from New Zealand. So basically this is what happened. Every night around 1 am my wife feeds some cats at a trailer near our home. She feeds the cats at night because that is when she comes back from work. Even though the trailer is just about 500 feet away, I never allow my wife to walk up to the trailer alone and I always accompany her. On the day of the incident I requested my wife to drive me around the neighborhood as I was new to this country. So my wife and I were in our truck and once we fed the cats we were about to drive around. At this point we were about 700 feet from our home and near a big shopping area.

A cop pulled us up. The cop requested our ID's, my wife showed her ID but I was not carrying my passport with me then (I did not yet receive my green card). My wife explained to the cop that we lived just a few hundred feet away and in fact showed the cop our town house from where the cop stood. The cop never gave us a reason why we were stopped. From that point on he asked questions about me--he asked me -which country did I come from, what passport do I have and when I said Indian--he proceeded to question then how did you come here from New Zealand? I told him that I was working in New Zealand. I explained him briefly the K-1 visa process through which I came into this country. The cop went back to his vehicle came back and asked me a few more questions out of which 2 specific questions stood out. Questions enquiring what was my height and my weight. I must stress that he was never rude or discourteous in his conversation with us all through the conversation. After going back to his vehicle the cop came back again and asked me few more questions about what I was doing at this time of the night?

This really stumped me because I was with my wife in the vehicle and my wife already explained to him a few minutes back that she was just driving me around the neighborhood. After about 10 minutes we were free to go. Now to be honest I really did not make much about it until my wife told me there was no reason the cop should have asked me about my height and weight and a few more questions which she thought were redundant. I believe since I come from India and I saw how cops behave there-- this police encounter meant nothing to me but my wife believes that probably he was racially profiling me. My wife believes that the actions/questions of the cop were not based on my behavior or any actionable information but were based on my ethnicity, race and national origin. For a while my wife mulled the idea of making a complaint I told her it really was a non-issue.

What do you make of this incident?

I say the cop in that city (plus all the rest of them)

had received

a 'Be on the Lookout' electronic notice about someone matching yer physical description,

and

the cop wanted to quickly ascertain if you matched the height and weight stuff

as

you already matched the ethnic stuff.

as to Racial Profiling? No. However, the BOLO notice does mention ethnicity, when available.

I suggest you drop it, as the cop not file any report on you that needs further followup.