In Alabama, if a police officer asks for your name, must you provide it?

Alabama is a stop and identify state meaning that law enforcement officers have the authority to request a person's name from citizens under certain circumstances.

Those circumstances exist if the police reasonably suspect that someone is committing or has committed or is about to commit a felony or other public offense. If reasonable suspicion exists, the police can stop that individual and demand their name and an explanation of their actions.

Unless the situation becomes one in which the police have a reasonable basis for believing that a crime may have been committed, they must, once they've dispelled their suspicions, release the person to go about their business.

To put this another way, while the police may briefly detain someone if they have reasonable suspicion there is criminal activity afoot, they must release that person as soon as they clear the situation up unless their suspicions ripen into probable cause to believe that the person has been involved in a crime.

Of course, the law, as discussed by lawyers and judges, isn't always what occurs on the streets. From a practical standpoint, if the police stop you and ask your name and you refuse, they will detain you longer to determine who you are. If you have done nothing wrong and answer truthfully, you will most likely be free to go about your business more quickly than if they keep you there until they figure out whether or not they have grounds to arrest you. And, in my opinion, if you refuse to provide a name, the police will look a lot harder to see if they can find a reason to arrest you.