Social:Your papers, please

Short description: expression associated with police state functionaries

German Ordnungspolizei officers examining a man's papers in German-occupied Poland, 1941

"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. It is a cultural metaphor for life in a police state.

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.

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.

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

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. 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.

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.

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

During the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, so-called "Immunity passport" that shows proof of inoculation before a traveler boards a plane or other means of mass transportation. In 2020, IBM developed a digital health pass that would be shown at sports stadiums, workplaces, or transportation systems to allow admittance. There has been increasing controversy regarding the morality of such passports, as well as how this may affect civil liberties and rights. Critics of the proposition compare such document with Ahnenpass.

Various business groups and major airline industry groups have petitioned the Biden administration for the development of temporary credentials, known as virus or vaccine passports, which would show transportation operators if a passenger has been tested or vaccinated for COVID-19.

See also

• Stop-and-frisk in New York City
• Stop and identify statutes
• Terry stop