6.17​Operating a Motor Vehicle Without a License in Possession

A.​Statutory Authority

“The licensee shall have his or her operator’s . . . license, or the receipt described in [MCL 257.311a¹³], in his or her immediate possession at all times when operating a motor vehicle, and shall display the same upon demand of any police officer, who shall identify himself or herself as such.” MCL 257.311.

B.​Penalties

MCL 257.901(2) provides for:

•​imprisonment for not more than 90 days; or

•​fine of not more than $100; or

•​both.

“If a person has received a citation for a violation of [MCL 257.311], the court shall waive any fine and costs, upon receipt of certification by a law enforcement agency that the person, before the appearance date on the citation, has produced his or her operator’s . . . license and that the license was valid on the date the violation of [MCL 257.311] occurred.” MCL 257.901a.

C.​Issues

•​Establishing Police Officer’s Identity

“Under MCL 257.311, . . . not only can identification of [a police] officer occur by observation of the officer’s uniform and fully marked vehicle, in the case of a non-uniformed police officer, identification can occur by use of a badge or oral or other identification.” People v McKinley, 255 Mich App 20, 30 (2003). In McKinley, 255 Mich App at 29, the police officer “had activated the emergency equipment in his fully marked sheriff’s department vehicle and approached [the] defendant while he was fully uniformed as a . . . sheriff’s deputy.” The Court of Appeals held that “such indicia are sufficient to satisfy the statutory requirement [in MCL 257.311] that an officer identify himself as an officer when requesting a driver’s license from a person who was operating a motor vehicle.” McKinley, 255 Mich App at 29.