Police stops and your rights.
 

Hi guys

Just wanted to ask anyone around here what they know of gaijin rights while being stopped by the police. No rumours or hearsay just what you know to be fact. Having just been stopped recently this subject has just popped up on my radar.

Soo what are my rights?

I'm curious as to why you were stopped?

As long as you have a valid license, you have the same rights as anyone else.

I used to get stopped all the time in my neighborhood, sometimes by the same cop, and asked for my gaijin card. They also searched my apartment when I was at work (building super let them in) and stationed a officer outside my apartment for several months and I was never told why. My translator at my company called them to ask and all they would say is " He is a person of interest". Of interest of what? The only we could guess was that some crimes were being committed and since I was the only foreigner in my neighborhood I was a person of interest.
Japanese law forbids discrimination, but it is only on paper and real life is different. Japan is still getting accustomed to having foreigners living there and their culture makes them suspicious of us so I didn't really take it too personally. I think this is changing now.
Just stay out of trouble and have all your papers and visas in order and you will be fine.

You must have your ID card or passport on you at all times, and you must present it when asked...
Other than that, you`re on the same legal standing as a Japanese citizen. Which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

I`ve been here for 10 years now and have never once been stopped. In fact, a recent event of interest; I spoke to a police officer for the FIRST time the other day when one came around to get emergency contact information from residents so they could attempt to notify relatives if something horrible happened. (A new police box was built and opened very recently.) Nothing weird happened, and I gave him the family home`s contact info. And then he went next door and asked them in the exact same way.

Police, the world over, are power hungry. :vsign:

I'd take a Japanese police over an American one any day, especially the cute policewoman who watched my apartment sometimes.;)

Police are generally friendlier if you don't cause trouble. That's true in any country I would imagine.

NOT in AMERICA!! They are like that to...how should I say-Caucasians, but not towards African Americans. I'm African American so I can tell you that police are total assholes when it comes to us. They stop you in your cars when you don't do anything AND they even stop us on bikes. America is one country in which police are assholes to minorities.

People seem to have a lot of misconceptions about the police in Japan. The police you usually see here look a lot like bank security guards. They typically sit in their police box for most of the day, getting out from time to time to ride their white Bridgestone shopping bikes around the neighborhood so the old housewives won't complain about them doing nothing.

But, in reality, police in Japan have quite a bit more power than police in places like America do. In America police need just cause to stop you and question you. In Japan there is no such requirement. In America if the police arrest you, they must give you access to a lawyer, allow you to make a telephone call, and they are required to let you appear before a judge with 72 hours of your arrest. In Japan you can be held for weeks without being allowed to contact or see anyone.

In America police can get in trouble for "getting rough" with you. In Japan people who are arrested often look like they fell down a flight of stairs after they are "questioned". If you are abused by the police in America, you can sue for damages, in Japan the most you will ever get is an apology (and only if you are found innocent of any charges).

Foreigners are often questioned by police in Japan and asked to show their passports or residency cards. If you are asked, you have no choice but to comply. The officer needs no reason to ask you, and if you refuse, you are violating the terms of your visa.

Few western foreigners are bothered by the police, as the police tend to focus on those who are most likely to be in the country illegally, such as those of Filipino or Korean descent. Racial profiling is perfectly acceptable in Japan.

For those who are stopped by the police, just smile and do what you are asked. Once again, you don't have a choice.

I'd rather take the Japanese cops than the American cops anyday. At least I would still be living.

I was stopped and booked twice for driving offences.

Oh, and finger printed once..

As for my right's, apparantly the finger printing should not have been on of them from the police side.

Not to start a fight about it but most times they(minorities) are up to something.

You've done it now. And you know what I mean.;)

And I would do it again...

I think many of the altercations between blacks and cops in the states is due in large part because both groups already have a predetermined perspective of how the encounter will play out, and both parties do everything in thier power to ensure that's exactly how it goes. In other words, both sides have allready predetermined how it will go.


If you think a task is impossible, it will be, because you have allready declared it so.

And if you don't want to spend up to 20 days in a Japanese prison sign the citation he gives you! Japanese cops won't pull you over for no reason, so chances are you did do something wrong.

I just took my Japanese license written test so these were some fun little facts they told us in the class @_@

Like what? Living their lives? I've seen it happen before. Cop stops (black) people in their car. They're not doing anything but driving home or something. The cops hold them there just to mess with them and the people in the car get aggrivated. They were basically stopped because they were black. There are some black people out there who do nothing at all and they're still stopped.

That's going to be a tough question to answer, specially since I'm not trying to insult anyone, I can only speak from my own experiance.

I work mall security and we have had alot of trouble over the years. Everytime we get involved with a black shop lifter, they howl racist and profileing and make as much of a scene as they can. This is from folks we have caught red handed leaveing the building with several stolen items.

I realize bad things have happened in the past, I understand that. However, comeing across with a giant chip on thier shoulder and acting like everyone owes them because of some past wrong none of us were involved in, gets tedious..

Now yes, I do agree that in some places of the country it's rough, but I'm not going to automatically believe it's allways the cops fault because I have seen first hand how these things get blown out of proportion by the perps themselves.

This thread is supposed to be about police and Japan, so let's try and move things back in that direction.

i haven't given one of these in a while but you just earned my

FAIL award and pretty much faster than anyone iv previously seen.




Iv been stopped only once when i was Japan showed my passport and even asked for directions that was about it. American cops well they can be dicks personally iv never had to really deal with cops. Iv never even gotten speeding ticket.

While power tripping is a common fault of law enforcement - especially rookies, it usually comes back into line after a few months.

And racial profiling is common.... in all humans - not just cops. And its not just against blacks. I am white, middle-class as they come and I have been stopped exactly as described and harassed in the U.S. - and by white cops! And yet, in foreign countries they have never failed to be polite and helpful once I got past them scaring the hell out of me.

Those of your screaming about maltreatment by cops need a slight perspective adjustment. Wouldn't you be on edge and unpleasant if you were required to approach hostile strangers on a regular basis?

99% of the time if you are polite and civil, the cop will be too; unless you are clearly doing something you shouldn't or hanging around somewhere you have no business being.

I spent a year on a police advisory board because I was pissed off at what I saw the local cops doing. After hearing their side of the crap they put up with and seeing the rude and disgusting behavior of many of those coming to court to fight their traffic tickets, I think generally cops deserve more credit than I am reading here.

I agree Taln. Treat them how you want to be treated. Of course there are jerks in every profession. I had a Highway Patrolman who pulled me over weekly on the way to work to "check the window tinting". I was always polite, even when I asked for his name and badge number to report him for harassment. He left me alone after that. I think I was profiled since I was Hispanic and driving a nice car (drug smugglers do this). But most are nice.
The Japanese police were always very polite. They even put everything back where it was when they searched my apartment.:D

I got pulled over for tint alot too, they just don't like tint, it says "I'm hideing stuff".

I suspect in Japan it's prolly more of an outsider type thing, Non native folks stick out there more so than they would in the US.