So this one time there was this one guy who was just, like, totally minding his own business and the police just arrested him. Therefore the United States is a police state and you should never ever talk with cops for any reason whatsoever.
There's no requirement to carry one, but in many states you must produce it if you are carrying it, and of course you need one to drive. If you're being cited for something, even something that doesn't typically come with jail time like say jaywalking, lack of ID usually translates into being arrested so they can "ascertain your identity".
I'm under the impression that this 4chan anecdote is lacking a ton of detail that would be needed to understand the story. Including, perhaps, the police perspective about why he was arrested.
"I was arrested for no reason. Fuck the police!" is a non-story.
Possession of CP is illegal. He went into a police station in possession of CP. Therefore, he is a lawbreaker. Simple as that. Yes, it's stupid...but these laws ARE stupid. You'd be in the exact same situation walking into the police station with a bag of cocaine or a sawed-off shotgun. They don't HAVE to bring charges and might choose not to, but that choice is at their discretion. No?
So this one time there was this one guy who was just, like, totally minding his own business and the police just arrested him. Therefore the United States is a police state and you should never ever talk with cops for any reason whatsoever.