Urgent - ID query

[Ryan]

I'm not sure why people are leaping to the conclusion that the police are unwilling to take a report for this. All he said was that they weren't friendly.

If you had a valid ID then you should be able to file a report and receive a replacement. If you have a police report and a temporary ID the situation is already resolved. If you do not have either of those documents then we probably need to know more about why those items cannot be procured before we can offer additional information. I like oddball questions as much as the next guy but sometimes these questions rub me the wrong way and I wonder about the rest of the story. Standard deductive reasoning rather than leaping to conclusions.

The few times that I've had need of a police report, it's taken them a couple of days to produce it. Obviously in this case, that would cause a bit of an issue.

 

[caravanman]

Not everyone wants to attract the attention of the boys in blue, even if they become victims themselves.

Only advice is to smarten onself up as much as possible and fingers crossed, act "normal" !

On the other hand, if I "lost" my own e ticket printout and Amtrak just let the finder ride without checking ID, I might be upset...

Ed

 

[boxcarsyix]

"I'm afraid it's pretty much true that the police don't rush to assist the grungy-looking poor guy who got rolled"

He didn't say he looked "grungy" just "beat up" :wacko:

 

[PaulM]

I didn't catch whether the OP has a ticket or not. I believe there is a big difference between buying or picking up a ticket at a station and having a conductor is scan your ticket.

In the first situation, I have almost always been asked for ID; but hardly ever in the latter.

 

[me_little_me]

I have had to show my ID a few times - only once when taking a sleeper. The rent-a-cop in New Orleans made us all line up and take out our IDs for the conductor who looked like he could care less.

On average, I'd say 1 out of 20 trips needed an ID.

 

[Bob Dylan]

The Agents and Conductors here in Austin always ask for IDs when picking up tickets, checking luggage and when lining up "under the shed" to board!

It is Amtrak policy, not a problem for me even though they all know me by name!( I'll admit they may just glance @ the ID!!)

 

[Railroad Bill]

Sorry to hear of your problems and hope things start looking up for you soon. Our local police usually would not issue a police report immediately so you may need time for that to be available. But as mentioned the local DMV here is usually helpful in people getting a state ID for those without drivers licenses.

And as JIm mentioned, our CLE agents always ask for ID when picking up or buying tickets. And they know us pretty well but the rules are the rules. We have also had ID checks done on the SW Chief in ABQ and once on the LSL in Buffalo, so it can happen.

 

[amamba]

I'll just add that I was on a regional the other day with a very young looking conductor (assistant conductor probably!). He was asking people in the car for IDs, I'm assuming when his handheld scanner prompted him. He probably asked about 10 people in my one car on the short ride between BOS and PVD.

 

[Ryan]

Yep, the move to e-tickets has definitely increased the number of random ID checks. My understanding is that they were supposed to be happening all along in a random fashion, but now the scanner does the randomization and says "check this ID" periodically, prompting the conductor to actually make the check.