- Journalist
stopped by police in Tokyo
By:
James
C. Gibbs
- UMJ
NEWS Volume 2.
It
really happened! & Turnabout is fair play!
After 11 years of living in Japan, albeit mostly
in the neighboring prefectures around Tokyo, for the
first time ever I was stopped while on foot by a
Japanese policeman and asked what I was doing and to
show identification. Until moving to Tokyo one year ago,
I had never been stopped by police, although these days
I cannot hardly ride my bicycle at night from my office
to home without being stopped and asked, “Is this your
bicycle?” (Translation: Did you steal this bicycle?)
I had become used to the “guilty until proven
innocent” routine when riding a bicycle but on foot
just outside my apartment in Iidabashi? The policeman
spoke English and asked me, “Do you live around
here?” I shrugged my shoulders and then he asked,
“What are you doing?” I replied, “Nothing.” He
then asked me to show my gaijin card. I asked the
policeman, “Why?” He responded, “Because I am
police.” I then asked, “Oh are you really a
policeman?” With an astonished look on his face and
pointing to his uniform he said, “Yes, look at me! I
am police.” I then inquired, “Do you have any
identification?” He was further astonished but showed
his ID card. I was able to read the kanji for his name
to him aloud, which surprised him-I had not just gotten
off the boat. He then asked for my identification,
to which I replied, “I don’t have any.” He said,
“Nothing?” And I gave him a truthful response,
“No, I don’t have any identification on me.” He
then said, “Okay, you can go.” I turned around and
walked into my building thinking it was quite funny that
a policeman had stopped me to check my ID which he did
not get to see but on the contrary I had checked his. I
continued chuckle about this for several days.
After being repeatedly subjected to this “guilty until
proven innocent” routine by Tokyo cops, I have learned
some quite effective countermeasures, which I would like
to share with the UMJ readers.
Firstly, it is my understanding that all police officers
must first show their identification when asked for it
(assuming it is not a crisis situation, guns drawn,
etc.). After all they could be fake cops—It happens.
But before asking them for their ID ask for their names
and badge number, preferably to be written down if you
have a pen. Japanese police officers have been known to
give fake names to foreigners when hassling people or
throwing their weight around. It is kind of an inside
joke among the police, which they laugh about later.
After you write down the officer’s name and badge
number, then DEMAND that he or she show you the proper
identification to confirm this information. If the
officer lied, then this he or she will leave you alone
and go away quickly. If you are really gung-ho and
happened to have a pocket camera snapping a picture at
this time will aid you in making a complaint later.
After all, they are the ones who are doing something
wrong.
Then, if you have time and feel up to it you could go to
a phone nearby or use a keitai and call the police to
confirm that the officer in front of you is in fact a
real police officer. This will take five minutes or
more. It may seem extreme but by the time you are
finished you will have made your point, which is that
you do not appreciate being hassled any more than the
police do. Although it may be their “legal right” to
stop you check identification, at the same time, it is
also your “legal right” to check their
identification. If enough people start doing this, then
maybe the police will stop harassing law-abiding people
when they have no evidence of a crime having taken
place. By all means do not be afraid to exercise your
legal rights when the police exercise theirs.
Finally, for activist people like myself, if you have
some free time. Tell the police that you do not
have identification and force them to take you in for
some paperwork if they have nothing better to do. At the
end you can either produce your ID or make them escort
you to your home to get it. For ordinary people who
prefer to get the spot inspection over with, do not
allow the police to physically take your gaijin card. I
had heard that police are not allowed to take personal
ID from you. Unless you voluntarily
offer it to them, the police must simply read from it
while you hold it in your hand. I have subsequently
tested this several times and found it to be true (while
subject to a bicycle inspections). I refused to give the
gaijin card and told the officers to read it, which all
of them did without complaint. No police officer ever
tried to take it away from me.
Aside from simply turning the tables around on the
police who stop you for no reason, one thing that such
reverse harassment techniques can accomplish is that
they convey to the police that you know your rights,
what you are doing, and how to complain. The police will
then be on their best behavior and leave soon. Like any
cowards they will prefer go away and find weaker
victims.
For the record and for people who appreciate their
safety and respect the difficult job police do (as I do
too), I do not consider randomly stopping people on the
streets as part of police duties. In my opinion this is
simply harassment, racial discrimination in the case of
foreigners, and abuse of power that has been entrusted
to the police. Police duties should begin and end at
stopping people when there is some evidence of a crime
having been
committed.
Although I have not had the time or money recently, I
like my friend Antonio ’s idea best. Make a T-Shirt
with the front of your gaijin card plastered across the
front and the back of the card across the back. Then
wear the shirt when riding your bicycle around Tokyo at
night. When the police stop you and ask for your gaijin
card, just point to the shirt. If nothing else the
shirt would be a good conversation starter at parties.
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