Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 1139Policing and ID“It is obvious that the police now, as a matter of routine, demand theproduction of national registration identity cards whenever they stopor interrogate a motorist for whatever cause. Of course, if they arelooking for a stolen car or have reason to believe that a particularmotorist is engaged in committing a crime, that is one thing, but todemand a national registration identity card from all and sundry, forinstance, from a lady who may leave her car outside a shop longerthan she should, or some trivial matter of that sort, is whollyunreasonable. This Act was passed for security purposes, and not forthe purposes for which, apparently, it is now sought to be used. To useActs of Parliament, passed for particular purposes during war, in timeswhen the war is past, except that technically a state of war exists,tends to turn law-abiding subjects into lawbreakers, which is a mostundesirable state of affairs. Further, in this country we have alwaysprided ourselves on the good feeling that exists between the police andthe public and such action tends to make the people resentful of theacts of the police and inclines them to obstruct the police instead of toassist them ...”- Lord Goddard, Willcock v. Muckle, June 26 1951Although Law and Order is a key motivation for the establishment of ID cards innumerous countries, evidence establishes that their usefulness to police has beenmarginal.As Lord Goddard noted, identity cards will necessarily have an influence over therelationship between the public and the police. It is vital that we understand potentialchanges to this relationship. There are other important effects that we must alsounderstand, including what will happen to the police themselves when ID cards areintroduced.Proponents of identity cards frequently argue that the UK is one of the few countrieswithin Europe yet to institute ID cards. They imply that identity cards do not leadnecessarily to illiberal governance. Opponents of identity cards point out instead that itis rare for common law jurisdictions to implement ID cards. This group implies thatthere is something alien – perhaps “un-British” - about identity cards.