https://www.google.com/search?q=definit ... e&ie=UTF-8RiveraRa wrote:So my question is, what is the definition of demand?
If I am having that FTF contact with the officer and I am not being detained, yet they ask for ID...am I now required to show it just because I have my CHL (whereas with out the CHL I would have not had to display any ID at all)? My assumption is since they are asking, they are not demanding it. Correct?
Thanks!
OK, so under certain circumstances, a police officer has the authority to ask for and see your ID, including your CHL in certain circumstances. Whether the officer in question chooses to use "Please" and "Thank you" is entirely up to his or her discretion, but whether he or she uses those words or not, the officer STILL has the authority in those circumstances to require you to present your ID to him or her.de·mand /diˈmand/
Noun:
An insistent and peremptory request, made as if by right.
Verb:
Ask authoritatively or brusquely.
Synonyms:
noun. request - claim - requirement - requisition - call - want
verb. require - claim - ask - request - call for - postulate
Departmental policy (which is different from law) may require the officer to be polite, but the law does not necessarily require it. So when the request made under the officer's lawful authority to compel your cooperation is made, they may say "please" simply because they're trying to be polite and pleasant; OR they may say "please" because their department policy requires them to; but the use of "please" does not change the fact that they have the authority to compel your compliance with the request.......given the correct combination of circumstances.
The thing is that language can be used to grease the skids of social interaction, even when one party to the transaction has more authority in the transaction than the other. The cop's use of the word "please" in no way diminishes his authority to compel your cooperation with the request.
"Please step over here, sir," can just as easily become "got dragged over here in cuffs" if the circumstances warrant it. In those kinds of exchanges, the officer has a job to accomplish, and the legal authority to compel cooperation. The smart officer will at least try to be respectful of the other person's dignity by using "please/thank you." But, some people put their pride ahead of their dignity, which can lead to handcuffs. Either way, the officer's authority under the law remains unchanged by the presence or absence of "please."
For my own part, these types of questions boil down to "is this the hill I want to die on today?" I don't view a request to see my ID and/or CHL as any kind of inconvenience, and unless some kind of tectonic shift in the relationship between the officer and myself has just taken place, I don't see it as a major intrusion into my life either. Others are free to differ, for themselves. But I will always be the final arbiter of what is an illegitimate intrusion into my life. Nobody else's opinion matters to me. And when it comes to interactions with police, I tend to be generous in that regard.