The law is that this is the law only when a crime or at least some infraction – such as jaywalking – has been committed or the enforcer has solid grounds for believing a crime or offense has been or is about to be committed

Interestingly, it is not a crime for law enforcers to violate this law.

As you can see in the video accompanying this article. It shows a man who'd stopped to wait out a thunderstorm in the parking lot of a gas station/convenience store being first hassled – and then arrested – for politely declining to produce his "papers" when ordered to by first one and then three law enforcers.

Apparently, the cashier in the store sicced the law on the man because she was "worried" about his being parked outside, where he was reading a book inside his car. Though not a crime – or an offense – it was enough to trigger the man's eventual arrest.

When questioned by the first enforcer who arrived on scene, the man explained what he was doing and when the law enforcer told him the store clerk was "worried," he offered to leave – which ought to have been the end of the interaction. It is important to point out here that the store clerk never asked the man to leave and there were no signs saying people could not park and sit for more than a specific period of time. The man was driving a recent-model car, was neatly dressed and nothing about him or what he'd been doing suggested anything to be "worried" or "suspicious" about – especially after he'd explained why he'd been waiting.

It wasn't enough.

The enforcers insisted he produce his "papers." The man – to his credit – continued to decline, pointing out that he'd committed no crime or even infraction, though the law enforcers conjured one – "loitering" and then "trespassing" – even though he'd done neither. One of the cops went  into the store to get the cashier-clerk to agree that she wanted the man "trespassed" from the premises. But he never "trespassed" in the first place, as the civil rights lawyer who posted the video explains. A "trespasser" is someone who goes where he has no business being. And goes there despite having been told he has no business being there by the owner of the property. This was a parking lot in front of a gas station/store – a place where people are expected to park, in other words. And no one asked the man to leave, so the "trespassing" argument is fatuous. No, that's not quite right. It was concocted – to give the enforcers an excuse/pretext to arrest the man for refusing to give them his "papers."