Is giving a false name to police during a traffic stop a crime?

Yes. Giving police a false name during a traffic stop can be a misdemeanor under two different California laws, and neither one is a mere ticket. Vehicle Code section 31 covers knowingly false information given to an officer carrying out Vehicle Code duties. Penal Code section 148.9 covers pretending to be another person, or a made-up person, during a lawful detention or arrest to avoid being identified or to evade the court’s process.

Vehicle Code section 31: any knowingly false information

Vehicle Code section 31 makes it unlawful to give a peace officer, orally or in writing, information you know is false “while in the performance of his duties under the provisions of this code” (Vehicle Code section 31). The section is not limited to names; it reaches any information you know is false. Its text does not require an arrest or a purpose to evade anything. An officer enforcing the Vehicle Code during a traffic stop is generally performing duties under that code.

Penal Code section 148.9: a false identity to evade identification

Penal Code section 148.9 is narrower. It applies when a person “falsely represents or identifies himself or herself as another person or as a fictitious person” to a covered peace officer, “upon a lawful detention or arrest,” and does so “either to evade the process of the court, or to evade the proper identification of the person by the investigating officer” (Penal Code section 148.9(a)).

A traffic stop is itself a detention. The California Supreme Court has said that “ordinary traffic stops are treated as investigatory detentions” (People v. Hernandez (2008) 45 Cal.4th 295). So section 148.9 can apply during the stop itself, but only if the stop was lawful and only if the false identity was given for one of those two purposes. Whether the stop was lawful is its own question; see illegal traffic stop.

Which officers count

Section 148.9(a) covers the officers listed in Penal Code sections 830.1 and 830.2, among others. That includes city police officers and sheriff’s deputies (Penal Code section 830.1) and California Highway Patrol officers (Penal Code section 830.2(a)), the officers who typically make traffic stops. Subdivision (a) does not contain the extra condition found in subdivision (b), which covers other peace officers and applies only if the false information was given while the officer was performing peace officer duties and the person “knows or should have known” the recipient was a peace officer (section 148.9(b)).

How serious each one is

Both are misdemeanors. Vehicle Code section 40000.5 lists “Section 31, relating to giving false information,” among the violations that are “a misdemeanor, and not an infraction” (Vehicle Code section 40000.5). Unless the Vehicle Code provides a different penalty, a Vehicle Code misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in county jail, or both (Vehicle Code section 42002). Section 148.9 states that a violation is a misdemeanor, and unless another law prescribes a different punishment, a misdemeanor carries the same maximums of six months in county jail, a $1,000 fine, or both (Penal Code section 19).

The two laws overlap but are not the same

A false name given during a lawful stop to avoid being identified can fit both sections. False information that is not about identity, or a false name given without a purpose to evade identification or the court’s process, may fit Vehicle Code section 31 but not section 148.9. Which one is charged, and whether both are, depends on what was said and why.

What this does not cover

This page covers false identity and false information. The general obstruction offense, Penal Code section 148(a)(1), is a separate crime with its own elements and penalties; see obstructing a police officer.

If this already happened

Do not repeat or add to the false information in any further statement, form, or paperwork; doing so can add to the exposure rather than reduce it. Talk to a lawyer before you give any further statement about the stop.

The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review exactly what was said, to whom, and under what circumstances. Call (800) 755-5174 to discuss your situation.