Posted on 12/08/2005 8:55:00 AM PST by JTN
Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against Deborah Davis, the 53-year-old Arvada woman who refused to show her identification to federal police officers on an RTD bus traveling through the Federal Center in Lakewood.
Davis' supporters, at first jubilant to learn Wednesday morning that she will not be prosecuted, were dismayed to learn hours later that officers of the Federal Protective Service still will ask passengers on the public bus to show their identification. The policy applies to all passengers, including those, as in Davis' case, who are traveling through the Federal Center and not getting off the bus there.
Federal officials said the Davis case was closed because of a technicality involving a problem with a sign at the Federal Center at the time Davis was ticketed. The sign was supposed to inform people that their IDs would be checked.
"The policy hasn't changed," said Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of which the Federal Protective Service is a part. "There are no plans to change our procedures."
Davis' lawyers said the battle is likely to continue.
"We're very pleased that they dropped charges against Ms. Davis," said Davis' volunteer lawyer, Gail Johnson, of the Denver law firm Haddon, Morgan, Mueller, Jordan, Mackey & Foreman. "But sign or no sign, she and other Colorado citizens continue to have the constitutional right to travel by public bus without being forced to show identification to federal agents."
"I think if the government is going to insist on continuing to violate the constitutional rights of our citizens, then they're going to find themselves back in court on this one," Johnson said. "We're not interested in the Deborah Davis exception."
Johnson said lawyers from outside Colorado had volunteered to help represent Davis following nationwide publicity about the controversy, and that other bus passengers who refuse to show identification likely could find legal representation as well.
"There are plenty of lawyers in Denver who would be happy to help people," she said.
Davis had been scheduled to appear for arraignment before a U.S. magistrate judge in Denver on Friday. She could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
Bill Scannell, a spokesman for Davis and an activist who has helped publicize other challenges to government identification requests, said a rally outside the courthouse, at 19th and Champa streets, will occur at 8:30 a.m. Friday as planned.
He said Davis will speak during the rally and she and her supporters will ride through the Federal Center on the Regional Transportation District's Bus 100 - the one from which Davis was removed for not showing her ID.
Scannell called it "a victory ride," even after he learned that the policy has not changed.
"My anticipation is that the victory riders will be fully exercising their constitutional rights to travel freely in their own country on a public bus," he said.
Asked if some or all of the riders might refuse to show their IDs to Federal Center police, he said, "I think that's a fair assumption."
Zuieback, the spokeswoman for ICE in Washington, D.C., declined to discuss how federal officers would respond to any such refusals.
"We never speculate about what our response is going to be to a specific situation," she said.
She said the dispute isn't about the bus or its passengers, but about the security of a federal facility.
"It's not a city bus on a city road," Zuieback said. "It is entering a federal facility."
Two RTD buses, the 3 and the 100, pass through the Federal Center several times a day. Thousands of people work at the Federal Center, and thousands more visit some of its agencies, including a popular map sales office and a heavily used depository for genealogical information.
In addition, the road through the Federal Center leads from South Kipling Street on the east side of the facility to the Cold Spring park-n-ride at the Federal Center's northwest corner, a major connecting point for buses bound elsewhere.
RTD officials have said some passengers have complained in the past about the federal police ID checks, which began after the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. The bus routes through the Federal Center had existed for many years before that.
"It's clearly not an ideal situation for RTD or our passengers, but it is controlled wholly by the federal police at that site," RTD spokesman Scott Reed said Wednesday.
"We hope there will be some resolution of this, and we are doing the best we can to comply with their regulations while providing a long- standing service to our passengers," he said.
Davis, who routinely rode RTD's 100 bus through the Federal Center to get to her job at a small business in Lakewood, said she first showed her ID to federal police who boarded the bus and asked to see all passengers' identification, but it bothered her.
She then spent several days telling the officers she didn't have her ID with her and wasn't getting off the bus in the Federal Center anyway. Officers eventually told her she had to bring her ID or she couldn't ride the bus.
Finally, Davis refused on Sept. 26 to show her ID and was removed from the bus, handcuffed, placed in the back of a patrol car and taken to a police station in the Federal Center. She was later released after officers issued her petty offense tickets.
Zuieback said the ID checks are only one part of "many layers of security." She would not discuss the other parts.
"Looking at that ID, having that initial contact with an individual, does allow us to know that that person is who they say they are," she said.
Asked how officers know a person's ID is genuine, she said, "We have trained professionals doing that work."
Who are you?
• The Federal Protective Service says its policy of checking IDs of bus riders at the Denver Federal Center has not changed. Here are the RTD bus routes that enter the center on at least some runs (some routes vary with time of day):
3 Alameda Crosstown 5x Cold Springs Express 14 West Florida 100 Kipling Crosstown G Golden/Boulder
All pass through the Cold Springs Park-n-Ride at Fourth Avenue and Union Boulevard on the northeast corner of the Federal Center.
Good guys win, but the feds say the "Papers please" policy will continue.
Hopefully she now gets it and will show ID next time...
If they insist on doing it, just do it with purpose. Just glancing at it protects no one.
It's for The Children.
you missed this then:
"Looking at that ID, having that initial contact with an individual, does allow us to know that that person is who they say they are," she said.
Asked how officers know a person's ID is genuine, she said, "We have trained professionals doing that work."
It sounds like the prosecutor looked for a reason to let her off the hook this time. Sensible enough.
But it you want to travel through a federal facility you have to play by their rules.
I don't like the "your papers please" aspect of this, however, it is a federal facility. We don't want to invite Johnny Jihad onto the property.
Now that the woman knows the rules, and a sign is posted, she needs to either go along or find a different way to work.
Nobody is going to prevail in getting the feds to allow anyone on their property under any rules except the ones the feds put up.
They should have the bus route changed to not go on the federal property - just "next to it". Then, the feds can shuttle everybody back and forth.
So it looks like future arrests are not to be based on the "Access to Facilities" section, which applies to the government and not to the individual, but will rather be based on the section that requires individuals to comply with signs and lawful instructions of officers.
Frankly, if the Feds have the signs right, this will put them in a much stronger legal position. I would wager that their policy will be upheld in the courts, because they have wide latitude in setting up security.
That said, I wish they would just eliminate this problem and the potential vulnerability of bringing so many people through the gates who have no business there by just re-routing the buses. Just have all passengers to the facility get off at the Park and Ride and run them in on shuttle buses. How hard would that be?
that's the obvious thought on how to solve this, problem is I don't think it's that simple. Not knowing the geography, alternate routes, number of people who may get disembark at the Fed facility from that bus, if any, etc...
In DC the Metro goes through a number of areas that are restricted, (Pentagon) and of course there is not an option to build a line a couple of hundred feet outside the area.
"Good guys win, but the feds say the "Papers please" policy will continue."
Basically they found a loophole to make this one case go away so they continue to prevent freedom of movement. Very sad day for our government.
"Hopefully she now gets it and will show ID next time..."
Strange how so many on this forum support this "Mother Sheehan" wanna-be. Maybe that was Sheehans problem. She denigrates soldiers instead of LEOs.
This anti-Patriot Act woman and her far-left handlers had this all ready for press release before it even happened. You can go to her page to arrange a booking for radio or TV through her "media consultant".
"Gets" what? That they will continue with security policies that don't provide any additional security?
This is a 'facility' in the loosest aspect of the word. The word 'campus' would be much more accurate. I'm not sure if you followed the previous thread, this is hard a high security facility.
In reality, the city bus service shouldn't be traveling through an area that requires security checks - some of the passengers are just passing through.
The city bus should just let all of the people off at the main gate and then go around.
right on. Poor little granny harassed by the big bad Fed.
Are you serious, she has a website, etc?
This speaks volumes, if so. Everyone wants their 15 minutes, I guess.
No, that when an officer asks to see her ID she will show it and not act like an ass...
Yeah, glancing at an ID really keeps a terrorist from setting off his bomb.
Let me see:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1536172/posts
"...he had a suspicious pair of shoes that tested positive five times for the explosive substance TATP on the interior of his shoes between the heel and sole. ...Strangely, after holding him overnight, airport security in New York released him. The FBI was notified after he was released."
Yeap, glancing at an ID makes us so much safer.
Good guys win, but the feds say the "Papers please" policy will continue.
Just curious, are passengers on the Metro subject to ID checks or other security procedures if they aren't getting off at that stop?
Let's see. Who should I believe. The Federal Protective Service, or you??
I've made my decision.
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