john smith wrote:
Alan Baker wrote:
The police have the authority to ask who I am, where I live, but even
if they have suspicions that I have committed a crime, that does
*not* give them the authority to require ID from me. What if I just
haven't brought my wallet along; what then?

In Ohio, if they ask for it, you have to show it.

It's not so simple. There are three relevant SCOTUS cases wherein the broad
perimeters of the grey area have been identified by the court:

Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada
Terry v. Ohio
Brown v. Texas

In Brown v. Texas, the court held that absent reasonable suspicion of
criminality, the police may not simply stop people on the street and ask
for their names. The other two cases definitely chewed away at the Brown
decision, though, making it rarely relevant, IMHO. "Reasonable suspicion"
is so subjectively defined that in a "war on terrorism" anything may be so
classified. Here's an article that references the above three cases and
what they lead to:

"Assessing the Supreme Court's ruling on giving ID to police"
by Michael C. Dorf
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/06/24/do....id/index.html