Your papers, please explained

"Your papers, please" (or "Papers, please") is an expression or trope associated with police state functionaries demanding identification from citizens during random stops or at checkpoints.[1] It is a cultural metaphor for life in a police state.[2] [3]

The phrase was popularized as the first line in the classic 1942 movie Casablanca which depicted life in Vichy-controlled Casablanca during World War II. The film opens with a scene of police officers searching a hotel for refugees fleeing from Nazi-controlled territory. The first line of the film is spoken by a police officer to a civilian he stopped on the street: "May we see your papers, please?" The civilian produces a document, but a second police officer declares that it "expired three weeks ago" and begins to tell the civilian he is under arrest. The civilian attempts to flee the police but a gunshot is heard and the civilian falls to the ground.[4]

Use in the United Kingdom

In 2009, the Conservative Party leader David Cameron used the trope with a German accent whilst criticising the idea of ID cards in the United Kingdom by asking a Q&A session "Where are your papers?".[5]

A report from Big Brother Watch, a London-based nongovernmental privacy advocacy group, says police use of facial recognition technology in public spaces is like people being "asked for their papers without their consent".[6] [7]

Use in the United States

The phrase has been used disparagingly in the debate over Real ID and national ID cards in the United States.[8] [9] [10]

It has also been used to refer to interactions with citizens during police stops[11] [12] and immigration enforcement.[13] Arizona's controversial SB 1070 law requiring people to carry identification was dubbed the "Papers, Please" law.[14]

The phrase has also been used by the press in relation to a February 2017 incident in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents searching for a suspect demanded identification from passengers exiting a domestic flight.[15] [16] In January 2018, bus passengers allege that Border Patrol agents boarded a Greyhound bus in Florida and demanded U.S. identification or a passport from all of those on board.[17]

A lawsuit against Glendale, Arizona police officers alleges that a passenger in a car was tasered on the genitals after he asked an officer why he needed to identify himself during a 2017 traffic stop.[18]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase was used to refer to vaccine mandate policies enacted in places like New York City.[19] [20]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Duncan Long. Protect Your Privacy: How to Protect Your Identity as Well as Your Financial, Personal, and Computer Records in an Age of Constant Surveillance. 1 January 2007. Rowman & Littlefield. 978-1-59921-687-4. 223–.
  2. Web site: Margaret Hu. November 15, 2011. 'Show Me Your Papers' Laws and American Cultural Values. Jurist.
  3. Book: Michael A. Caloyannides. Privacy Protection and Computer Forensics. Artech House. 2004. 978-1-58053-831-2. 298–.
  4. Web site: Epstein. Julius. Casablanca Screenplay. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201126163006/http://mckeestory.com/wp-content/uploads/Digital-CASABLANCA.pdf. 26 November 2020.
  5. Web site: David Cameron adopts German accent to mock ID cards . 15 June 2009 .
  6. News: Report Blasts London Police Use of Facial Recognition Cameras. Cain . Burdeau . Courthouse News. July 5, 2019.
  7. Face Off: The lawless growth of facial recognition in UK policing . May 2018 . Big Brother Watch . 7 . 2023-01-23.
  8. Web site: Panel Discussion: Your Papers Please, What the Real ID Act Means for American Values. 15 April 2008. New York Civil Liberties Union. November 9, 2016.
  9. Web site: PAUL: Blocking the pathway to a national ID. Sen. Rand Paul. The Washington Times. May 24, 2013.
  10. News: Your papers, please. Tomás R. Jiménez and Mark Krikorian Tomás. Los Angeles Times. February 7, 2008.
  11. Web site: 'Your Papers, Please:' ACLU Urges Supreme Court to Protect Right to Remain Anonymous. American Civil Liberties Union . March 22, 2004.
  12. News: Yes, Police Can Arrest You for Failing to Identify Yourself . Mike . Riggs . Bloomberg.com. CityLab. February 25, 2014.
  13. News: Immigration Update: Arizona Police Can Now Ask, 'Papers Please'. Alfonso Serrano. Time. September 7, 2012.
  14. Raymond. Adam K.. Trump Cabinet Hopeful Forgets Cover Sheet, Exposes DHS Plan for All to See. 28 November 2016. The New Yorker. 21 November 2016.
  15. Web site: Papers, Please . Garrett . Epps . . February 27, 2017.
  16. Web site: Your papers, please . Keegan . Hamilton . Vice . February 23, 2017.
  17. News: Border agent arrest aboard Greyhound bus triggers outcry. Joshua Rhett Miller. New York Post. January 23, 2018.
  18. News: Officer used Taser on man's genitals, says lawsuit accusing Arizona police of torture . Eliott C. . McLaughlin . CNN . February 10, 2019.
  19. News: Opinion | Your Vaccine Papers, Please . Wall Street Journal . 3 August 2021 .
  20. News: Kelly Jane . Torrance . Unfair Bill de Blasio: Papers, please! . New York Post. 19 August 2021 .

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