Question: Must I Hand Over My Driver's License to Police?

This is the first of what we hope will be many articles for the “Ask A Trooper” project. Let me introduce myself, I’m Sgt. Mark Thompson, of the Michigan State Police–Brighton Post, and I will be the “host” of this program. I’ve been a police officer for more than 31 years and my experience varies from walking a beat and going undercover to patrolling roads, and working in rural and urban areas. Now, I’m the “friendly” desk sergeant at the Brighton Post. 

Many people have questions about the law or law enforcement. Ask A Trooper is an opportunity to obtain answers from a reliable source. It is not intended for the Ask A Trooper articles to be “big brother” laying down the law. The goal is to offer citizens an easy, nonconfrontational way to ask questions about criminal and traffic law or anything in the law enforcement realm. If successful, we will provide a good service to the community and who knows, we may even have a little fun!

Question: When I am stopped by police, do I have to give my driver's license to the officer or can I just show it to them in the window?

Answer: I talked with MSP's Sgt. Michael Church, office of the director, legal resource and education unit. If troopers have legal questions, Sgt. Church is our go-to person and he gave me some insight regarding this issue, as I have never had a person show me their license through a window.

MCL 257.311 deals with the driver’s license (by the way, MCL stands for Michigan Compiled Laws).

The plain language of 257.311 is very clear. A driver "shall display the [operator's license] upon demand of any police officer ..."  Since there are no binding cases, we just look at the clear, unambiguous wording of the statute. A motorist is required to "display" the license, not give it to the officer. So, holding it up the window should be sufficient.

However, I would not recommend that a motorist refuse to surrender his or her license. First, an officer could argue that he or she needed to confirm that the license was not forged or altered. The driver's refusal to surrender the license under that circumstance could, believe it or not, amount to resisting and obstructing, a criminal felony charge for which you could go to jail.

This actually happened; a driver held his license up to the window, refused to give it to the police officer, who could not read the license, and was subsequently arrested for resisting and obstructing. That charge was upheld by an appeals court.

So, it is sufficient, in theory, to hold the license up to the window, but it is a very bad idea in practice. I’m going to skip the fact it would be just plain rude.

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