Attack artist with papers (4)
I believe the answer is:
raid
'attack' is the definition.
(raid is a kind of attack)
'artist with papers' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'papers' becomes 'id' (identification papers).
'ra'+'id'='RAID'
(Other definitions for raid that I've seen before include "Surprise police visit" , "Sudden and surprise attack" , "Smash-and-grab?" , "Rapid surprise attack" , "Invasion" .)