Solomon

Arnold Solomon was charged in municipal court with a violation of F’enal Code section 647, subdivision (e). That statute makes a person guilty of disorderly conduct: “Who loiters or wanders upon the streets or from place to place without apparent reason or business and who refuses to identify himself and to account for his presence when requested by any peace officer so to do, if the surrounding circumstances are such as to indicate to a reasonable man that the public safety demands such identification.”

The trial court sustained Solomon’s demurrer to the complaint and entered judgment dismissing the cause. The appellate department of the superior court reversed the judgment of dismissal and certified the cause to this court. We ordered the cause transferred here to reconsider the constitutionality of section 647, subdivision (e) in the light of United States Supreme Court decisions rendered subsequent to- our decision in 1967 upholding the constitutionality of the statute. (People v. Weger, 251 Cal.App.2d 584 [ 59 Cal.Rptr. 661 ].)

I

Under specified circumstances section 647, subdivision (e) imposes a duty on a street loiterer to respond to a peace officer’s inquiry,…