You know those system generated numbers issued to maintain driver's history? They do not equate to a driver's license, and you cannot write people for driving while canceled, suspended or revoked when that person has never applied for a driver's license and has a system-generated number.

    The Kansas Supreme Court so held in State v. Bowie, ___ Kan. ___ (No. 82,929, filed March 10, 2000). Bowie (and several others) never applied for a driver's license, but that did not stop them from driving. Police caught Bowie and charged him with five counts of felony driving while suspended pursuant to K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 8-262(c). In the past, Bowie had pled guilty to three charges of driving while suspended, but on the current five charges the district court dismissed them holding that Bowie should have been charged with the less serious offense of driving without a valid driver's license under K.S.A. 8-235. The state appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court.

    The state argued that the language in K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 8-262(a) stating a person shall not drive while their "privilege" to do so is suspended or revoked, and the definition of "license to operate a motor vehicle" set forth in K.S.A. 8-1430(b) (license means "the privilege of any person to drive a motor vehicle whether or not such person holds a valid license"), indicated a legislative intent that a person did not have to actually have a driver's license to be convicted of driving while suspended. However, the court rejected this argument. It adopted Bowie's argument that the legislature intended for only licensed persons to be covered by K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 8-262(a). The court went one step further and told the legislature how to amend the statute if it wanted never-licensed folks to be included in the driving while suspended provision, stating the legislature should modify the term "privilege" by adding the words "nonexistent or never legally present," to the statute.

    Until the legislature acts (next year, if at all), officers should inquire of persons who do not have a valid driver's license if they have ever had one. If so, charge them with driving while suspended in violation of the relevant subsection of K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 8-262 or STO 194. If the answer is no, and dispatch advises the person has a system-generated driver's license number, the person should be cited for driving without a valid driver's license in violation of K.S.A. 8-235(a) or STO 192.

    As I have previously advised you in various updates and roll call training, if the person is driving and does not have ANY valid picture identification giving the information equivalent of a driver's license, they should be arrested and booked pursuant to K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 12-4212(a)(4)(B) and/or § A10-26(d)(2). Once the person is adequately identified at the jail and if they do not have any warrants, officers can unarrest the person by citing and releasing them. K.S.A. 22-2406. Of course, if the cite and release occurs at the jail, and the person has no alternative means of transportation available, common sense and decency suggests that you return them to the place where the arrest occurred so that the person is left no worse off than they were before you stopped them. Please advise if you have any questions about this bulletin.