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.
When I read writings like the example below, I come to no other conclusion but that the writer is ignorant:
"We should never under any circumstances show ID's because of our right to not show ID's as written in the constitution (I forget again where is the ID thing written there?) "
yep, thats what I hope too. It will drive more traffic to her website. good for her.
No recent history tells us that civilian targets have sustained the largest number of deaths in a terrorist attack. Not to mention the economic impact. What happened to the WTC, filled with many thousands of civilians, was far worse than any other attack, anywhere. I feel the Federal government should be just as concerned about security of civilians as much as they are for their own facilities. With millions of unidentified people entering this country illegally, on a regular basis, they are clearly not.
you're problem is you extract a sentence from the context of the whole and use it to create something that did not exist for the purpose of your argument. sort of like the msm does.
It's been good, but a man's gotta get some work done. I respect everyone's opinion here, its good to debate.
Take care.
Exactly right.
Okay. Please explain why the right to not show an ID isn't in the Constitution.
People are using the public transportation to reach that facility. It's not a shortcut, it's a stop on the bus route. That stop obviously suits other passengers needs, it that stop makes the bus route unacceptable to her, she shouldn't ride on that bus.
Public transportation is for all the public. They have to come up with a policy that meets the majority of the publi's needs. It is not their responsibility to meet every individual's specific needs.
There's apparently a need for public transporation to the facility. They can also provide trasportation to other areas on the loop with a single bus, but it requires you to show identification since you're entering a government facility even if you never leave the bus.
If that is unacceptable to you. Don't use the bus.
Actually, the route transits the facility. Not all riders on the bus are going to get off at the facility. And the local park and ride is just on the other side.
End of story.
Interesting.
Supposed to have ID for "security purposes", but just say "oh, I forgot" and it's ok just don't forget next time.
Uh-huh.
Charges dropped on a "technicality" - sounds like she would have won, and they can't stand for that. New policy: drag each no-ID person to court, then drop the charges just before the rider wins - don't have to win the case, just have to harass people into compliance by making it too expensive via "press charges, then drop them". Methinks the court should (perhaps) have the option of saying "you pressed charges, you can't drop them just because you might lose."
Strange how so many on this forum support the 4th Amendment and want the feds to obey it.
I did not call her dangerous. I said she created a situation that could have been dangerous.
This wasn't her first trip on that bus. She knew she was going to be asked for ID. When she told them previously that she had left if at home, she was told that she would have to present it next time.
The job of those officers is to look for dangerous people that are trying to harm the public. She created a confrontation with them. That's just plain stupid.
Confrontations have a way of growing beyond our intentions. Sometimes confrontations are necessary. This one definately was not.
It is
Right here
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Asked how officers know a person's ID is genuine, she said, "We have trained professionals doing that work."
Who are you?
This is a bunch of crap! You can call yourself by any name you wish. In some sections of Los Angeles you can even get an official Drivers License with your chosen name boldly displayed thereon. The volume of the unofficial distribution of these real documents often exceeds that of the state printing office. If you get one, just be sure that you do not try to renew it at the DMV when it expires. The DMV in California is totally messed up when it comes to document control.
How do I know? Several years ago I presented myself for examination prior to renewing my license. This was during the time when they were installing the new automatic photo system. For some reason they chose to have me come in several weeks later to redo the photo. That triggered an avalanche of licenses. before it was over and without any help from me, I received a total of 5 licenses. Each had the same serial number, all had different pictures and three had my last name spelled different.
I really have to take exception to this BS of depending upon a piece of paper to tell someone else who I am.
Semper Fi
"unreasonable searches and seizures"
Key word: Unreasonable.
Yes unreasonable
and it is unreasonable.
Neither.
Bomber gets on bus, waves ID (easy enough to get one, legit or fake), gets in, blows up. How did checking ID help?
The problem, repeatedly explained and repeatedly ignored, is that the only thing the ID check does in this scenario is ensure that someone has an ID. Unless the ID is checked as being FOR THE FACILITY, or CHECKED AGAINST A TO-ENTER LIST, checking an ID only serves to show that someone gave this person an ID.
If someone is that determined to cause that much trouble, they'll get something that will sufficiently pass as an ID.
ID checker notices something suspicious, document seems not quite right, there IS no document, subject seems nervous, dress not appropriate for time/place/weather, ID reques and inspection allows close-up face to face eye contact, subject panics, etc., etc., etc. No ID check, 100% chance none of the above will happen.
If said bomber 'waved' ID, then it wasn't checked. Is this what you meant? Seems you are slanting your example to suit an agenda. How about bomber doesn;t 'wave' ID, bomber has ID checked, is asked for 2nd ID, is questioned, etc.
to someone with bad intent, absolutely it is unreasonable.
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