Papers, bitte

[msmemory_archive]

Eish. They've started checking IDs on the Green Line. Apparently, if you are innocent, you are not supposed to mind.

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

travelling without an id wastes your time, too, when they cart you off. Travel with an id, but feign ignorance, and start pulling out all your old high-school library cards, book-club cards, AAA membership, etc., etc. When they start bringing out the handcuffs, "discover" your ID, "Oh, what about this one? Is that what you want?"

Or, bring a permission slip from your mother. Those should work great.

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

I think I would pull out my Israeli Tudat Zahut (national ID), its a government issue ID, it has my picture and my name on it. Of course the name is in Hebrew, but thats not my problem.

On the other hand before I was able to get that here (Due to a strike) I used my mass drivers licence without any problem in Jerusalem as ID.

[johno.livejournal.com]

I don't know about MA, but here in CA, you are NOT required to carry government ID.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Do you have a legal reference for that?

[johno.livejournal.com]

I can't find the refernce.

On the news yesterday when MA ID checks were reported, the reporter noted at the end that a a California Supreme Court decision stated that carrying ID was not required.

This was a case where a black jogger was often harrased and arrested by police for not carrying ID in a ritzy neiborhood.

Turns out, he was rich and a lawyer.

[herooftheage.livejournal.com]

I don't think it will. Wasting a cop's time on this is a plus for him, not a minus: I suspect a fairly large number of cops hate this idea too, and so spending it on a person being ornery is better than spending it on a dozen who aren't. Being obstructive is not going to send anyone a message they'll hear.

I think the only message that will get heard is civil disobedience, on a large scale. Either people are going to be willing to get hauled off to jail in large enough numbers on this one to affect policy or the policy will get implemented until the times change, and courts put a stop to this sort of nonsense.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

You're surely right. The only positive effect this can have is to require more officers to perform the same job. If this occurs enough, eventually it will get rather expensive; the officers will love the overtime pay, but the local government might suddenly discover a financial incentive to roll back enforcement.