www.debito.org
BRIEF
CLIP & KEEP
Your rights if stopped by J
cops for an ID Check
(Click here to read
Japan Times Community Page article dated
July 27, 2004, which came out of this
report.)
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004
(freely
forwardable)
CLIP AND SAVE:
YOUR RIGHTS RE GETTING
STOPPED BY JAPANESE COPS
Hello All. Arudou Debito here. In case
you didn't know, June is
"Policy Measures Against Illegal Foreign
Workers Campaign Month"
(fuhou shuurou gaikokujin taisaku kyanpein
gekkan. See June 9 photo
of a ceiling banner at JR Shinagawa Station
indicating as such,
courtesy of Coal Restall, at
<http://www.debito.org/shinagawabanner060904.jpg>)
Sponsored (in part) by your
friendly Tokyo Immigration Bureau, I
anticipate a lot of
officially-sanctioned racial profiling around
town. I think it prudent
for people to know their rights. Recommend
you print this email up and
carry the law around with you. (I do.)
(Fuller 1998 report with
romajinized Japanese at
<http://www.debito.org/activistspage.html#checkpoints>.
All
translations
of the Japanese by the
author.)
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1) IF SOMEBODY ASKS FOR YOUR I.D. (namely your "Gaijin
Card"):
meaning a hotelier, a video store, a JR staff
member, etc., tell them
that only the police can demand it, under
Foreign Registry Law
(Gaitouhou) Article 13 Clause
2:
====================================
"The Foreign
Registry Law, Section 13, Clause 2. Foreigners, when
asked to show
their Gaijin Cards by immigration investigation
officials (as outlined
in separate laws), police, coast guard, or any
other national or local
public official or group empowered by the
Ministry of Justice as part
of the execution of their duties, must
show."
====================================
外国人 登録法 第十三条 第二項 外国人は、入国審査官、入国警備官（入管
法に定 める入国警備官をいう）、警察官、海上保安官その他法務省令で定め
る国又は 地方公 共団体の職員がその職務の執行に当たり登録証明書の掲示を
求めた場 合には、これを掲示しなければならない。
================================
====
What you choose to show as I.D. is your decision. But some
places
demand you display your passport or Gaijin Card just to receive
service. That is against the law. Next:
//////////////////////
///////////////////////////////
2) IF THE POLICE ASK FOR YOUR
I.D.:
ask why. Because, under Police Execution of Duties Law
(Keisatsukan
Shokumu Shikkou Hou), Section
2:
====================================
"A police
officer is able to ask for a person's ID, but only if based
on a
reasonable judgment of a situation where the policeman sees some
strange conduct and some crime is being committed, or else he has
enough reason to suspect (utagau ni tariru soutou na riyuu) that a
person will commit or has committed a crime, or else it has been
acknowledged that a particular person knows a crime will be
committed. In these cases a police officer may stop a person for
questioning."
====================================
警察官職務執行法 第二条 警察官は、異常な挙動その他周囲の事情から合理
的に判 断して何らかの犯罪を犯し、若しくは犯そうとしていると疑うに足り
る相当な理由の ある者又は既に行われた犯罪について、若しくは犯罪が行わ
れようとしていることについて知っていると認められる者を停止させて質問
することができる。
====================================
Meaning that there must be a *specific crime* or *suspicion of a
crime*
before questioning can occur. Just being a foreigner is
insufficient
probable cause, and without a good reason a policeman's
arbitrary
questions to a stranger are against the
law.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
3) IF THE POLICE COME UP WITH A REASON FOR DEMANDING
I.D.:
such as, if you are riding a bicycle, stopping you on the
suspicion
that you may have stolen it (moreover, a sapient cop will
know the
Gaitouhou trumps the Shokumu Shikkou Hou here), then, as a
foreign
resident you will ultimately have to show your
I.D.
However, there is a check. You can also ask the cop to show
his
I.D., under Gaitouhou Section 13, Clause
3:
====================================
"The Foreign
Registry Law, Section 13, Clause 3. Public officials
governed by the
previous clause, if asking for the Gaijin Card
outside of their
workplace, must carry a certificate of their
identity and present it if
asked."
====================================
外国人登録 法 第十三条 第三項 前項に規定する職員は、その事務所以外の
場所に お いて登録証明書の掲示を求める場合には、その身分を示す証票を携
帯し、請求 があ るときは、これを掲示しなければならない。
====================================
Once displayed, I recommend you write down the cop's
I.D. details (he
will do the same for you--you might as well show him
how it feels).
It will provide some deterrent against a cop
overstepping his
authority. (If you really want to get serious about
this, audio
record the conversation, and make sure the cop sees you are
doing so.)
Note that legally, the cop only has to show I.D. if he
stops you on
the street, or anywhere other than the Police Box. So, to
avoid
showing
I.D.:
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
4) IF THE POLICE TRY TO TAKE YOU TO THE POLICE BOX
(kouban):
they cannot do so against your will, unless they
formally arrest you,
under the Shokumu Shikkou Hou Article 2, Clause 2
and 3:
====================================
Clause Two:
"It is possible to ask a particular person to accompany
the
[police] to a nearby police station, police branch [i.e. kouban],
or
any police administration area for questioning if it is determined
that
this place is unsuitable for questioning because it obstructs
traffic
or is disadvantageous to the questionee."
Clause Three:
"Unless there is a regulation relating to criminal
action,
officials may not confine, bring back to any police
administration
area, or else coerce a person to reply to questions
against his
will."
====================================
警察官職務 執行法 第二条 第二項 その場で前項の質問をすることが本人に
対して不利であり、又は交通の妨害になると認められる場合においては、質
問するため 、その者に附近の警察署、派出所又は駐在所に同行することを求
めることができる。
警察官職務執行法 第二条 第三項 前二項に規定する者は、刑 事訴訟に関す
る法律 の規定によらない限り、身柄を拘束され、又はその意に 反して警察
署、派出所若しくは駐在所に連行され、若しくは答弁を強要されることはない。
====================================
which
means that a cop has the right to ASK you to accompany him to
the Kouban, but you have the right to REFUSE, and he has no
right to
restrict your movements without a formal charge or
arrest.
I walk you through a possible scenario at
<http://www.debito.org/
instantcheckpoints2.html>
//////////////////////////////////
///////////////////
CONCLUSION:
You might think I'm
going overboard with all the legal stuff. But
these laws exist for a
reason- to curb abuses of power. It is quite
obvious that the
authorities and politicians are targeting people who
look foreign these
days, often quite irresponsibly and regardless of
the facts. As
international residents of Japan, I believe we should
at least let the
authorities know that we are informed of our rights
and their
responsibilities, and won't accept wanton targeting without
appropriate
justification.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/
REFERENTIAL WEBSITES:
QUICK AND DIRTY DOWNLOAD OF THE LAWS AND YOUR OPTIONS HERE (Microsoft Word document)
Overview of Problematic
treatment of Japan's International Residents:
http://
www.debito.org/activistspage.html#handout
Detention and
interrogation of criminal suspects under Japanese law:
http://
www.debito.org/activistspage.html#detention
National Police
Agency's "DNA" Racial Profiling research:
http://
www.debito.org/activistspage.html#racialprofiling
Immigration's "Snitch Site" for anonymous internet
xenophobes:
http://
www.debito.org/activistspage.html#snitchsite
The Koizumi
Cabinet's Anti-Foreign-Crime Policy Putsch:
http://www.debito.org
/activistspage.html#putsch
Political opportunism and
unsubstantiated Foreigner Bashing:
http://
www.debito.org/activistspage.html#opportunism
The roots and
externalities of racial profiling:
http://www.debito.org/A.html
More newspaper articles and columns on the subject:
http://
www.debito.org/publications.html#JOURNALISTIC
Arudou
Debito
Sapporo
http://www.debito.org
debito@debito.org
June 18,
2004
Revised slightly April 7, 2006
ENDS
