Japanese Police

Public Safety Cop Forgets Loaded Gun in Restaurant Lavatory

2010-11-14T11:24:00.000+09:00

A supplementary police officer in Tokyo to help provide security for the ongoing APEC Summit in Yokohama has caused an embarrassment for the MPD by leaving his loaded firearm in a restaurant bathroom stall earlier this week.

The 59-year-old officer was reportedly loaned to MPD's public safety division on the fifth of this month.

The handgun was turned into another police officer not even five minutes later. All five of the gun's live rounds were still intact.

Cop in Hyogo Caught with Weed

2010-10-17T01:15:00.000+09:00

A 24 year old officer in Kobe was busted for possession of marijuana.

Isao Fukuoka, the officer in question, apparently had the weed in his wallet.

Police Lied on Cause of Death

2009-11-08T16:12:00.002+09:00

Hideki Maruyama was apparently beaten severely by yakuza on October 7th, but the Tottori Prefectural Police told the family and media that he had simply drowned.

Maruyama, 57, is apparently just one of several people with ties to a certain 35-year-old bar hostess (arrested on allegations of fraud) who wound up dead.

The police have defended the falsehood by saying that they did not disclose important details because they suspected it was a criminal case.

Officer dozes; suspect escapes

2009-04-21T22:18:00.003+09:00

A 32-year-old man being questioned about his role in a theft case escaped after the 19-year-old officer supervising him in the interrogation room fell asleep.

170 officers were apparently involved in the search that ensued, but they couldn't find the suspect. He ended up turning himself in the next afternoon.

The drama unfolded at Nishinomiya Police Station in Hyogo on Monday afternoon.

Koban get Female Officers

2009-04-02T12:44:00.003+09:00

As of April 1st, 2009, 20 female police officers were stationed at koban (police boxes) in ten different locations in Tokyo. This is the first time that female officers have been stationed at koban on a full-time basis in the nation's capital.

Female officers have traditionally not been allowed to carry guns, and there was no word on whether or not this policy has changed, but it would seem that such a change might be advisable since some of the officers have been stationed at koban in busy entertainment districts such as near Ikebukuro station.

Until yesterday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police department was the only prefectural police unit in the country not allowing women to work full-time in koban.

National Police Agency Clamping Down on Internet Child Porn

2009-03-31T21:16:00.002+09:00

The penal code hasn't quite given the NPA all of the tools that it needs, but the national police are doing what they can to "block" child porn websites.

The tactic currently being considered is to make dangerous websites inaccessible to people using the Internet.

Cop Harrasses Teenager with Skin Condition

2009-03-08T20:49:00.004+09:00

A high school student who suffers from porphyria, a condition that causes the individual pain when sunlight touches the skin, was insulted by a local cop in Tottori prefecture.

The boy's condition means that he must wear a veil that completely covers his face. He was stopped while riding double on the back of a friend's bicycle.

The police officer, from Yonago Police Station, apparently asked him, "お前はタリバンか" (are you a member of the Taliban?).

The chief of the police station has since made a public apology.

Cop Suspected of Leak

2009-02-25T00:45:00.003+09:00

A 53-year old police officer in Nara is being questioned over his role in leaking information related to an ongoing investigation into political bribery.

The cop in question is in danger of being sent up for breaking the Local Public Service Law which generally takes a negative stance toward leaks of confidential information.

Officer Allegedly Commits Suicide in Police Station

2008-09-22T15:46:00.003+09:00

Daisuke Orihara, 26, was found bleeding from the head in the lavatory of Shimura police station in Itabashi ward, Tokyo.

The fatal wound was apparently inflicted by his own gun early Monday morning. Other officers within the police station heard a gunshot just before 6 AM coming from the restroom and rushed to find their colleague in one of the stalls.

Orihara was nearing the end of his 24-hour shift when the alleged suicide occurred. No suicide note has been found as of yet.

The news report included information that Orihara had recently lost some traffic violation tickets.

Updates to come as more information is made available.

Police Ask Yakuza Bosses Not to Reward Underlings Who Attack Rivals

2008-09-17T13:21:00.004+09:00

More than two dozen gang bosses across the archipelago were told that rewarding gang members through promotions or cash for attacking their rivals is not OK.

The orders were spurred by the new anti-gang law which took effect last month.

By issuing the orders the NPA hopes to prevent future gang wars.

Cop Aids Illegal Worker

2008-09-04T12:35:00.003+09:00

A policeman from Niigata resigned after it was discovered that he helped an illegal worker avoid a police crackdown on an adult entertainment area of Niigata city last year.

The worker in question was a woman in her 20's from China who was in Japan on a student visa. She apparently turned to the officer for advice when she found out that prefectural police were staking out the area.

The cop reportedly said that he had felt sorry for her. He advised the woman to destroy the establishment's list of employees.

No word on whatever became of the young woman or whether or not the officer was a patron of said adult entertainment establishment.

Cop Stalks Former Girlfriend

2008-09-04T11:48:00.003+09:00

Kazuyuki Yamashita, a 31-year-old police officer from the prefecture of Fukui, was arrested for allegedly stalking a former girlfriend.

The woman apparently broke off their relationship early this year, but it appears that the officer kept after her. He allegedly sent more than two dozen e-mails to her phone between July 23rd and August 17th. No word on whether or not the obsessive e-mailing started immediately after the breakup.

Cop Punished for Using Rough Tactics with Juvenile Offenders

2008-07-24T12:56:00.002+09:00

The Kanagawa Prefectural Police recently announced that a 39-year-old officer has been referred to prosecutors for roughing up a few boys at Kawasaki Police Station's juvenile detention facility.

It was reported that he injured one of the youths being held at the police station.

Cops Reprimanded for Coddling Detainee

2008-07-24T12:49:00.002+09:00

Four officers were punished by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police for giving a detainee extra privileges while being held at a police station in the prefecture.

A truck driver was in detention for suspected intimidation when he bullied the officers responsible for watching him into letting him use a cell phone and smoke.

Their actions were reportedly discovered back in March.

Officer's ID and Uniform Stolen While Playing Pachinko

2008-07-23T00:20:00.005+09:00

An off-duty cop who was busy for about four hours in a pachinko parlor in Nichinan (Miyazaki prefecture) had his car broken into and possessions swiped this past Sunday.

"The officer lacked care in not carrying his police identification with him."

In addition to his police ID, the officer lost his uniform and name cards.

The 30-year-old officer had just gotten off the graveyard shift when he went to the pachinko parlor (legalized gambling). He obviously got a little shut-eye while at the station because he didn't feel the need to go home and get some sleep.

Cop Attempted to Cover Up Part of Burning Detainee Fiasco

2008-07-05T15:47:00.002+09:00

This is the fallout from that whole "detainee lights himself on fire while being questioned by police" thing back in May.

Quick recap:
Officers detained a drunk man who had drenched himself in kerosene late one night. He was reportedly threatening to set himself on fire. While being interrogated, the detainee demanded that he be allowed to smoke. He somehow caught fire and died.

Officers punished:
Three or four officers (depending on the source) are being charged with negligence (resulting in death), and one of the officers actually tried to cover up the fact that the detainee had been given an ashtray and a lighter while in the Atsuta Police Station (which is a non-smoking area, by the way). The 54-year-old cop hid the ashtray and lighter so that it wouldn't be discovered that they let a detainee smoke in the interrogation room.

One strange quote from the Mainichi article reads as follows:

The three policemen told investigators that they didn't see how the fire started, but a police experiment proved that clothes would not catch fire from a cigarette flame alone. Aichi Prefectural Police have determined that Kubota's clothes caught fire directly from the lighter.

What? Kerosene-soaked clothing won't light due to ash from a cigarette?

It appears that police experiments are conducted in special chambers that have no oxygen.

Officer Reprimanded for Losing ID/Handbook

2008-07-02T00:12:00.002+09:00

This from the Mainichi:

The announcement came on Monday after news organizations pointed out that Yamaguchi Prefectural Police had not disclosed that the policeman was reprimanded in May.

No idea what that quote really means, but thought that it might be a good demonstration of the immense distance that exists between the laundry getting dirty and the time when it gets aired, so to speak.

Apparently the 30-something officer reported his ID missing in December of last year.

Japanese police ID's double as police handbooks.

Kanagawa Prefectural Police's Official Mascot, Pi-garukun

2008-06-29T19:44:00.004+09:00

This is Pi-garukun (ピーガルくん), the official mascot of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police force.

Police Officer Molests Woman During "Interrogation"

2008-06-18T12:05:00.003+09:00

Assistant Inspector Tomohiro Kamioka, 51, stationed at Tochigi Police Station, has been arrested on charges of indecent assault.

The charges stem from a pair of encounters back in March of this year when Kamioka summoned a woman for questioning. It is alleged that he sexually molested her (reportedly in her 30's) on at least one of those occasions. He was off duty in both cases.

Kamioka denies the charges against him, but the Tochigi Prefectural Police have already eschewed due process and stated, "It's a shame a police officer supposed to be protecting everyone's safety has caused an incident like this. We offer a heartfelt apology to the woman, her associates and the people of the prefecture."

Day-laborers Stage Protest Outside Police Station

2008-06-15T11:01:00.002+09:00

Nishinari Police Station in Osaka was the focal point of a protest on Friday evening. Roughly 200 protesters, many of them day-laborers, converged on the area after hearing that police had physically abused a man after taking him in for questioning.

Details are extremely spotty at this point, but it is known that police deployed about 100 riot cops to the scene, and eight officers sustained minor injuries during the scuffle that ensued. 10 protesters were arrested on trespassing charges and obstructing the duties of an officer. The protesters dispersed in the early hours of Saturday morning.

It was reported in the Japan Times that a labor support group may have been responsible for instigating the unrest. Fliers bearing the message "Don't forgive violent police officers" had been handed out prior to the protest.

Police deny that the 54-year-old man who claims that he was hit by police is telling the truth.

Would-be Peeping-Tom Cop Caught

2008-06-08T00:48:00.003+09:00

We only just heard about this today, but a male cop was caught in a ladies public restroom in a Chiba public park back in February of this year.

The 45-year-old sergeant apparently followed two junior high school girls into the facility. When the girls noticed him, he identified himself as an officer and tried to pass his actions off as official police business before vacating the premises.

The girls reported him to other police and he has since been booked on trespassing charges.

Officer Faces Groping Charges

2008-06-07T13:08:00.003+09:00

An as yet unnamed 27-year-old police sergeant with the Kanagawa Prefectural Police has been booked for groping a woman on a train back in April.

Caught in the act, and forced onto the platform at Tokaichiba station on the JR Yokohama line, the cornered cop jumped on the train tracks and dashed off to catch a taxi.

He was later identified and confessed to the fondling. He has since resigned from the police force.

Officers Assaulted by Four Men

2008-06-05T22:43:00.006+09:00

Four masked men believed to be yakuza assaulted a pair of police investigators in Fukuoka at about 3:00 AM this morning.

The 31-year-old sergeant and the 47-year-old assistant inspector were investigating a crime committed by yakuza in the area, and had approached the suspect's unoccupied vehicle in a parking lot.

The four men were sitting in a car nearby, and they came out and confronted the officers. The assistant inspector had his badge stolen and the younger officer got smacked with a metal bar. The four men made a clean getaway.

The two officers were not armed when they approached the yakuza member's car.

Update [June 6, 2008--8pm]: The four men have turned themselves in. No word yet on how many of them, if any, were yakuza.

Update [June 7, 2008--1:19pm]: Three of the four were yakuza. All four of the assailants were between the ages of 22 and 25.

Off-duty Officer Flashes Convenience Store Worker

2008-06-04T00:08:00.002+09:00

No names have been released yet, but a 20-something police officer was arrested last weekend for flashing a 17-year-old female convenience store cashier in Chiba.

The officer has reportedly admitted to the allegations.

Officer Knifed in Random Attack

2008-05-23T20:09:00.003+09:00

A 25-year-old police officer on guard outside the Chinese embassy in Tokyo received a slight knife wound when a 52-year-old man slashed his jaw with a paper-cutter this afternoon.

The attacker was quickly apprehended and it is believed that his is a patient who escaped yesterday from a mental health facility in Kodaira, western Tokyo.

The officer was taken to a hospital where he was treated for a 5cm gash below his jaw. His injury is not life-threatening.

Officer in Itabashi Ward Allegedly Commits Suicide

2008-05-20T22:26:00.004+09:00

A 53-year-old police sergeant plunged from the fifth floor of Itabashi Police Station to his death on Monday afternoon.

Although no note has been found, the incident is being treated as a suicide.

Fukuoka Child Prostitution Aided by Local Cop

2008-05-19T21:20:00.003+09:00

"He is the third Fukuoka police officer to be arrested since the beginning of this year."

The above quote is from a Mainichi newspaper article, and we're not sure whether it refers to arrests in general or only those related to prostitution. Either way, it's apparent that we need to work a little harder in order to catch all of the instances where police officers make the headlines in Japan.

This time around it's Hideaki Maeoka, 56, who allegedly manned the phones and even shuttled underage girls to and from jobs for a prostitution business run by Eriko Ishimatsu in Fukuoka.

Maeoka denies the charges against him.

Cop Nabbed for Credit Card Fraud

2008-05-17T13:54:00.004+09:00

Three months ago today, a 43-year-old officer stationed at Komatsugawa Police Station in Tokyo secretly used his colleague's credit card to buy a laptop computer while in Osaka prefecture.

The culprit, Tatsuo Kawamura, didn't exactly splurge (the computer was priced at 150,000 yen), but he was arrested after a routine credit check. It was reported that he has admitted to the allegations.

Update [June 8th, 2008--1am]: Kawamura has been fired. He is still awaiting trial.

Cop Lets Kerosene-Soaked Detainee Light up

2008-05-14T12:40:00.005+09:00

A very uncooperative man, spurred into a kerosene-shower rage after a lover's quarrel, had been brought to a local police station for questioning.

In the interrogation room at Atsuta Police Station, Hifumi Kubota, 45, maintained his refusal to change out of his fuel-soaked clothes and demanded to be allowed to smoke during questioning.

Despite a no-smoking policy at the Atsuta Police Station (Nagoya, Japan), and the apparently lesser-known fact that kerosene is impressively flammable, an officer gave him cigarettes and a lighter. Kubota promptly turned himself into a human fireball and died later from burns that covered his whole body.

Cop Arrested for Attempted Bag Snatching

2008-05-06T22:21:00.003+09:00

25-year-old Kengo Nagata, a policeman in Hiroshima, was arrested for attempted theft on Monday.

Nagata rode up behind a woman and tried to grab her bag. He wasn't able to take off with the bag, however, because the strap broke. The woman reported the incident and Nagata was found shortly thereafter.

It was not clear whether or not Nagata was on duty at the time of the attempted theft.

Officer Stationed at Narita Airport Commits Suicide

2008-04-27T12:41:00.002+09:00

Nobuyuki Matsui, a riot squad police officer stationed at Narita International Airport in Chiba prefecture, was found dead in a restroom on Friday afternoon.

He had suffered a fatal gunshot wound administered by his own pistol. Matsui was 25 years old.

Juvenile Miscreant Rats Out Cop

2008-04-27T12:16:00.003+09:00

A police officer in Odawara, Kanagawa is now in hot water after it was found that he had sold stolen property and covered his tracks by not reporting the original theft.

The theft was committed by a young man who has a penchant for trouble. In a separate case, this time culminating in an arrest, the youth blabbed what the cop in Odawara had done.

The 29-year-old officer faces possible indictment. The officer's misdeeds occurred back in February 2007 and his cover was blown in November of the same year.

The mainstream media was only just given permission to run the story this weekend.

Cop Took Money from ATM Vestibule

2008-04-24T13:46:00.003+09:00

The theft took place way back in October of 2007, but the NPA has only just let the public in on this little secret.

An unnamed officer was reprimanded for pocketing money that had been mistakenly left behind at an ATM vestibule in Abiko, Chiba. The amount of money that the 49-year-old sergeant stole was reportedly tens of thousands of yen.

The officer, stationed at the Imperial Guard Headquarters, resigned after he was hit with a 10% pay cut for his dubious behavior. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether or not they will press charges.

Detainee Makes Campfire in Cell

2008-04-24T13:38:00.000+09:00

A man arrested for traffic offenses and theft set fire to some tissue paper and his futon in his detention cell at a police station in Gifu back on March 1, 2008.

Information on the incident was only recently made available to the public.

The man had managed to hide a lighter when police patted him down. He was being held at Gifu Minami Police Station when he started the fire. His case has been referred to prosecutors, and he has since been transferred to Gifu Detention Center.

Cops Assaulted by Junior High School Girls

2008-04-16T15:03:00.002+09:00

Two pairs of girls, both riding double on their bicycles, assaulted a pair of officers who attempted to caution them. After some shoving, kicking and spitting, three of the girls were arrested.

"The cops can't do anything," yelled one of the girls.

Police Didn't Disclose Details of Emergency Call from Missing Teen

2008-04-16T14:45:00.003+09:00

Officers with the Yamanashi Prefectural Police received an emergency call from 19-year-old Kanako Ishida, who it is believed was being held against her will at the time, but failed to inform their superiors about the situation.

Even though they suspected that something was wrong, "The officials could not make out the details of the case and had no idea which department should handle it, so did not report it to their superiors. All four officials went off duty at 8:30 a.m. on April 7" (Mainichi Newspaper).

Ishida is still missing and feared to be dead.

Cops Catch 19-year-old Before He Could Knife Anyone

2008-04-10T14:06:00.003+09:00

50 Aichi police officers were dispatched to local train stations and schools in order to intercept a man who had stated his intention to kill someone with a knife. The officers were successful in preventing the attack.

A little after 2:00 pm yesterday (April 9th, Wednesday) officers at Tokoname police station received a tip in the form of a phone call from one of the man's acquaintances. He informed police that the man had grabbed a knife and left the residence with the intent to commit a random act of murder.

Police were eventually able to apprehend the suspect on a platform at Nishnokuchi train station on the Meitetsu Tokoname line.

The suspect was quoted as saying, "I hate old people and I was feeling irritated, so I left home thinking I was going to kill someone. I brought the knife from home".

Tokyo Metropolitan Police's Official Mascot, Pi-pokun

2008-04-08T01:10:00.006+09:00

This is ピーポくん (Pi-pokun). He is the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's official mascot. According to his profile, he was designed with several cute animals in mind.

Miyagi Police Lied About Monetary Payments to Informants

2008-04-03T11:49:00.003+09:00

A citizen ombudsman's group in the prefecture of Miyagi has successfully sued the prefectural police for greater transparency in its doling out of monetary rewards to informants.

The group had alleged that the police were not actually giving money to informants, but were using the money to build up a slush fund instead. Police claimed that disclosing more information on its informants would prevent people from coming forward in the future.

However, the court agreed with the citizen's group and ordered police to stop pocketing the money.

"Presiding Judge Yoshiko Hatanaka ruled that most of the [informant] expenditures were fictional."

Fukuoka Cop Faces Attempted Rape Charge

2008-03-31T11:59:00.003+09:00

A captain with the Fukuoka Prefectural Police has been arrested on attempted rape charges.

Takashi Nitta, 48, is alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman at a hotel in February of this year.

Nitta denies the charges.

Panty-Pinching Cop Faces 2.5 Years in Jail

2008-03-26T17:54:00.004+09:00

We reported on this back in October (click here), but there is now some updated information on this guy.

The panty-pinching cop was previously named Keisuke Kanbara in the English press, but his family name is now being translated as Kamihara (in the Japanese press his name is reportedly 圭介神原).

He is apparently responsible for numerous thefts (panties and money) and some groping as well.

Kamihara was sentenced to two and a half years in prison today.

Police Officer Reportedly Commits Suicide

2008-03-26T17:40:00.002+09:00

A 43-year-old police officer who was an NPA superintendent apparently committed suicide on Tuesday morning by jumping from the roof of his apartment block in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture.

There was a note found in his home stating, "I'm tired".

The officer had recently been transferred to the anti-terrorism unit after spending several years in the Imperial Guard, the division that is responsible for protecting the royal family.

Cop Busted for Intellectual Property Rights Violations

2008-03-26T10:26:00.002+09:00

Another officer has gotten in trouble for using Winny, a peer-to-peer file-sharing program, because he allowed others to have free access to copyrighted material on his computer.

In this case, the material in question is a bunch of maps created by Zenrin Co. that he had downloaded.

The officer, 31, was apparently aware that his actions were illegal and also knew of the 2006 NPA ban on Winny file-sharing software that was put in place to prevent incidents of this sort happening with police computers.

The officer now faces prosecution in Fukuoka.

Officers Ill-prepared for Stabbing Stakeout

2008-03-26T09:59:00.005+09:00

Update [March 31, 2008]: More information on the bungled stakeout here.

The Japanese media is sounding off on the tactics employed by the Ibaraki Prefectural Police department during its attempt to track down and capture a suspected murderer.

The officers, it seems, were not given radios or weapons to deal with the attacker who was believed by all involved to be armed and dangerous.

This turned out to be a flawed course of action when the suspect, Masahiro Kanagawa, showed up late that morning.

The eight plainclothes officers stationed around Arakawaoki station, according to the Asahi, could not contact each other, and:

None of the officers was attached to the criminal affairs section which specializes in murders and other heinous crimes. They had been taken off their normal foot patrols.

Kanagawa managed to stab eight people near the station, including one of the officers (29-year-old Yuji Isshiki), before heading off to an unmanned koban (police box) to turn himself in. The Yomiuri newspaper claimed that half of the undercover officers first learned of the bloodshed via calls to their cell phones from the prefectural police.

Due to the lack of radio communication, the officers were unable to coordinate with each other, and could not prevent the series of attacks. "Consequently, we couldn't work well. We have to review it," an officer of the investigation team said.

Kanagawa was being sought by the police for the stabbing murder of an elderly man, Mr. Yoshikazu Miura, in Mito last week.

Takahiro Yamagami, 27, died in the attack on Sunday. Two others are reportedly in critical condition.

Officer Copies Porn Evidence for Home Study

2008-03-16T07:30:00.003+09:00

Update [March 27, 2008]: A few officers have been punished in this case. The "senior inspector" mentioned below was actually the superintendent. He ordered the captain to make copies of the DVD's, and the captain then turned around and ordered an assistant inspector to make the copies. The assistant inspector complied with the order. All three have been reprimanded to varying degrees.

However, guess which guy is going to take one for the team? The only guy referred to prosecutors? That's right, the assistant inspector could be charged with distributing pornography.

Original post:
While a senior inspector at the Funabashi-Higashi police station in Chiba prefecture, a 40-something officer ordered his underlings to copy some of the evidence seized in a raid on a porn wholesaler so that he could watch it at home.

The officer was careful to only select porn videos that didn't include those pesky mosaics used in Japan to obscure the naughty bits.

This has gotten the officer, still nameless, in some hot water because cops are not permitted to remove or duplicate evidence from an investigation for their own use/enjoyment.

Authorities at the Chiba Prefectural Police Headquarters are still trying to determine whether or not the man should be charged with a crime.

Officer Arrested for Fraud in Aichi, Japan

2008-03-11T23:26:00.002+09:00

Osami Kojima (52), an officer with the Aichi Prefectural Police department, was arrested along with his girlfriend for defrauding a woman of nearly $5,000 (500,000 yen).

The officer and his 38-year-old girlfriend, Mie Murase, swindled the woman in August of last year.

Kojima tried to resign from the force in December 2007, but his resignation was rejected on the grounds that he was most likely involved in the ongoing investigation.

Saga Police Officer Demoted for Drunken Flirtations

2008-03-11T22:25:00.003+09:00

The director of Imari Police Station in Saga prefecture has been demoted, and is soon expected to resign, for some drunken antics unbecoming of an officer.

At a wedding party, 58-year-old Shigenori Enjoji apparently pulled on a woman's skirt, and then after the reception he got a little too close to a woman on the bus that he was riding.

Neither of the women have decided to press charges against Enjoji, but the Saga Prefectural Police seems to be taking his actions very seriously. Is it possible that Enjoji has stirred up trouble for the police force before?

Cops Arrest Man Who Participated in Sting Operation

2008-03-08T16:30:00.003+09:00

After alerting police to a robbery plot that he had been asked to help with, Kazuhiro Hara made the difficult decision to go to the police and rat out his friends.

The police instructed him to continue with the robbery so that the man's friends would be caught in the act.

However, when all was said and done, the police treated him like all the other conspirators in his group. He was arrested, detained, and his name was reported as one of those responsible for the crime.

The police were apparently a little over-zealous in dealing with the "crime" and forgot that they needed to protect their source of information.

That source of information, Hara, has now filed a lawsuit against the Saga prefectural government. He is reportedly seeking 3.3 million yen in damages.

Officer Cops Free Massages from Woman

2008-03-08T13:24:00.006+09:00

A 57-year-old police officer by the name of Kazuzo Watanabe has been arrested for abuse of authority as a public official and compulsion.

He allegedly used some creative policing tactics in order to score some free massages.

Actually, it wasn't very creative at all. He just behaved like a bully and it worked.

First, Watanabe summoned a local business owner to the police office. He made her give him her phone number and e-mail address so that he would be able to "confirm" the legality of her business.

He then began threatening to report her business, and he coerced her into giving him two free massages as a form of hush money.

She apparently gives pretty good massages because from that point it is reported that he started e-mailing her and asking her to date him.

In the end, it was reported that the woman closed down her business. It has yet to be determined whether this had something to do with the legitimacy of her business operations, or if it was the direct result of Watanabe's continued harassment.

Update 1 [March 11, 2008]
According to the Asahi, the woman's business was operating legally.

DNA on Cigarette Butt Snares Peeping Tom Cop

2008-03-04T15:58:00.003+09:00

Kozo Yanaga, a senior investigator with the Fukuoka Prefectural Police department, is being interrogated after allegedly developing a habit of peeping into his neighbor's home.

In order to sneak a peek, Yanaga (31) shimmied onto his neighbor's balcony from his own and hunkered down to see what the husband and wife next door were up to. No word yet on what floor of the apartment building this all took place on.

Yanaga sneaked onto the balcony of a public servant's apartment next to his room in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, on a number of occasions between the night of Feb. 24 and the morning of Feb. 26, local police said.

Yanaga, an officer with the second investigation division, forgot to clear up all the evidence before leaving the scene of the crime (trespassing) and his beer can filled with cigarette butts was found by the couple.

After some DNA testing on the cigarette butts, it became clear that the couple's next door neighbor had spent some quality time on their balcony.

Police are currently trying to determine Yanaga's motive.

Officer Questioned over Pointing Gun at Noisy Boys

2008-02-28T13:33:00.005+09:00

Update [March 16, 2008]:
Prosecutors are now involved in this case, and it looks like the officer was definitely in the wrong on this occasion.

New information in this case includes the fact that the boys who rubbed the officer the wrong way were 16-17 years old, and that the officer was stationed at Takinogawa police station in Kita ward (Tokyo).

One other interesting tidbit is exactly what the officer said when he threatened the teens with his gun.

"If you do not move, I will kill you."

Original Post:
A 27-year-old Tokyo cop is being questioned over an incident where he allegedly drew his gun and pointed it at three kids who didn't do what he asked them to do.

The officer was called to an intersection (or a park...depending on which newspaper you read) in Kita ward where three youths were making too much noise. He told them to go home, but after making it look like they would vacate the area the three boys made themselves comfortable again only 10 meters up the street.

It was at this time that the officer allegedly approached the boys and drew his weapon.

The ages of the boys in question have been withheld, but it appears as though they were teenagers. They boys alerted police after the officer threatened them with his gun.

They claim that the cop pointed the gun directly at them. The officer denies the allegation.

Drunk Cop Causes Car Accident

2008-02-28T13:22:00.002+09:00

A drunk off-duty police officer, 54-year-old Mitsuyoshi Sumida, fell over while riding his motobike and caused a small accident. The incident occurred at around 5 pm on Wednesday.

The woman driving the car that Sumida hit was not injured.

Investigators reported that Sumida had recently finished his night shift at the police station, drank sake on his way home from work at around 2 pm, and then started riding around on his motorbike.

Police Officer Nabbed for Hidden Video Camera in Ladies Bathroom

2008-02-19T23:24:00.005+09:00

A cop in Mie prefecture set up a video camera in a woman's restroom at a restaurant in Nabari.

The officer's name is currently being withheld, but it appears that he is in his 20's and has admitted to the allegations and was a senior officer at the Nabari police station.

The report is that no footage was actually taken with the camera.

Cop Fires Gun by Accident in Police Box

2008-02-12T16:00:00.000+09:00

A 46-year-old police sergeant who was "examining" his gun at a koban (police box) in Chigasaki, Kanagawa prefecture, pulled the trigger a little too hard and left a hole in the wall of a closet.

Four members of his family, who were in the koban's living quarters at the time of the incident, were not injured.

With the holster in his left hand, the cop slid the gun into it with his right but managed to squeeze the trigger in the process.

Do guns issued to police officers in Japan not have safeties?

Yamaguchi Cop Pays Youngster for Love Hotel Romp

2008-01-31T00:00:00.000+09:00

Takayuki Saeki, a 33-year-old sergeant with the Yamaguchi Prefectural Police department, has been arrested on child prostitution charges after paying a 16-year-old to mess around with him at a hotel.

He has admitted to knowing that she was underage.

Officer Arrested for Assault

2008-01-30T23:52:00.000+09:00

The report in the Mainichi isn't all that clear on the details, but it appears as though assistant inspector Fumio Terashima was arrested for assaulting a train station employee at JR Kawagoe station in Saitama.

The 48-year-old police officer apparently decided to barge through at ticket gate at the station without paying even though there was a ticket attendant standing right in front of him. Terashima was reportedly in possession of a Suica card and cash to spare. And, yes, he was drunk.

The Mainichi report doesn't mention it, but he must have done something bad to warrant the arrest on assault charges.

Suspect Suffers Cracked Ribs During Police Interrogation

2008-01-19T17:03:00.000+09:00

Back in December a lietenant with the Osaka Prefectural Police kicked an interrogation room desk at a man he was questioning.

The desk hit the man so hard that it cracked his ribs.

The 37-year-old police lieutenant faces charges of "violence resulting in injury by a special public officer".

Police Officer Threatens to Kill Woman Via Text Messages

2008-01-18T19:25:00.000+09:00

A 49-year-old police sergeant in Okinawa has been arrested for threatening to kill a woman via e-mail more than 60 times since November 28, 2007.

Masaharu Fukuchi, an officer at Ishikawa Police Station, has been arrested on charges of intimidation. The Okinawa Prefectural Police department said that some of the messages appear to have been sent while Fukuchi was on duty.

Fukuchi defended himself by remarking that he was drunk and cannot remember e-mailing the woman.

Cops Play Soccer with Gangsters

2008-01-16T01:44:00.000+09:00

To mark the disbandment of a motorcycle gang out in Chiba, the local boys in blue organized an indoor soccer game. The gang, known as Kamagaya #1, hounded and annoyed the cops and residents in the area for around 30 years.

The game ended in a draw.

Cop Forgets Gun in Convenience Store Restroom

2008-01-15T21:02:00.000+09:00

An unnamed police officer in Tochigi left his pistol in a public restroom at a convenience store in Kanuma, Tochigi early Monday morning.

The 27-year-old sergeant said that he simply forgot it.

Police confirmed that the gun was loaded.

Cops Reign in Traffic Fatalities

2008-01-03T18:13:00.000+09:00

The number of people who died in traffic accidents in 2007, according to NPA records, was 5,743. That is the lowest number seen since 1953.

The worst year on record was 1970 when 16,765 fatalities were recorded.

The NPA claims that the drop is partly due to its crackdown on drunk driving.

In the 11 months to November 2007, drunk drivers cause 6,880 accidents. This is impressive when compared to 2006 when 10,782 accidents involved DUI's. For the record, that's a drop of 3,902 accidents and 183 resulting deaths (395 people died in crashes involving drunk drivers).

There is no word yet, however, on why December (the busiest drinking month of the year in Japan) is not included in the annual tally.

Cops Doctored Evidence to Support their Findings

2008-01-03T17:31:00.000+09:00

A former truck driver who was convicted in the murders of three women back in 1989 has since been acquitted after it was determined that the Saga Prefectural Police altered some of the evidence used by the prosecution to prosecute the man.

An expert's opinion on the course of events did not favorably match the police's initial probe of the crimes, so it is alleged that the cops changed a few things so that it would sound like the expert agreed with the findings of their "investigation".

The result is that the man was essentially framed with the murders of the three women in Takeo, Saga Prefecture (in 1989 Takeo was known as Kitagata).

Additionally, the possibility that the Saga Prefectural Police have allowed a serial killer to remain at large since 1989 while they were busy framing this other guy can not be ignored.

Koban Photo

2007-12-31T18:48:00.000+09:00

This koban is at the intersection between Waseda University's Toyama and Nishi-Waseda campuses.

Cop Fires Pistol by Accident

2007-12-27T17:21:00.000+09:00

A 49-year-old senior police officer in Saitama was fortunate not to have shot any of the five people in the weapons storage room on Wednesday when he accidentally pulled the trigger.

He was also lucky that he didn't injure himself as it appears that he was attempting to holster his weapon when it went off.

The bullet apparently left a hole in a maintenance stand.

Officer Causes Accident

2007-12-24T23:57:00.001+09:00

A 52-year-old sergeant from the Nagano prefectural police force by the name of Hiroo Shima caused a traffic accident while out on patrol during the end-of-the-year "safety campaign".

He admitted during questioning that his mind was not focused squarely on what he was doing.

The accident resulted in minor injures to both the officer in question and the 29-year-old woman whose car he hit.

Cop in Coma After Being Shoved onto Train Tracks

2007-12-24T13:09:00.000+09:00

Two drunk guys allegedly shoved an off-duty police officer onto the tracks in front of a train Saturday night at Ochanomizu station in Tokyo.

The officer, 49, was hit by the train and is now in a coma.

The two attackers, both over the age of 30, were apparently upset because they had been told to be quiet on the train by the off-duty police officer.

They have stressed that the attack was not premeditated.

Cop Benefitted from Spiritual Scare-Tactics

2007-12-20T20:12:00.000+09:00

51-year-old police officer, Sumio Yoshida, a superintendent in the Kanagawa prefectural police force, was suspended from his position after it was learned that he was a party to some swindling of a spiritual nature.

The head of a "healing salon" in Tokyo (a close associate of Yoshida's) is currently being investigated for her part in extracting at least 4.9 million yen from a business owner in Yokohama. She was somehow able to convince the man that he was in dire need of her spiritual healing services as his company was situated on ground that was used more than 400 years ago for performing beheadings. She claimed to be able to remove the spirits from the area in return for the hefty sum.

A lot of the investigation has yet to be performed, but it appears that a total of nine police officers are to be questioned in the coming weeks.

Update [December 31, 2007]:

Click here to see Japanese news footage of the story a few days after it broke.

Mysteriously, there are no pictures of the suspect, despite the fact that he is a public servant, easily available on the Internet (in either English or Japanese).

Officer Commits Suicide

2007-12-19T23:53:00.000+09:00

The details are still a little shaky, but it seems that a police officer has committed suicide this morning at a police box near Tokyo station in downtown Tokyo.

Yasumasa Onishi, 32, was a sergeant at Marunouchi police station and was transferred to the police box last week.

There is no word yet on why he was transferred or if the transfer had anything to do with his death.

Update [December 20, 2007]:

It was reported in the Mainichi that the officer in question was worried about his impending move back to a police box. He had allegedly expressed his concerns to his family.

His placement in the police box was apparently the result of his promotion to sergeant.

Mr. Onishi was found dead yesterday morning in the police box that he had recently been transferred to.

Officer Commits Suicide

2007-12-19T23:44:00.000+09:00

A 23-year-old police officer, whose name was not given, was found dead at a police box in Mashiko, Toshigi after apparently committing suicide.

It was reported that a suicide note was found nearby.

Cop Fondling

2007-12-19T23:19:00.001+09:00

Kenji Nakamura, a senior officer at Urayasu police station in Chiba, has admitted to molesting a woman that was being held at a police station.

Nakamura fondled the "private parts" of a young woman at the Matsudo police box.

During questioning, he said that he was in love with her and that is why he molested.

Update [December 29, 2007]:

Nakamura, 26, has been formally charged by prosecutors and was fired on Wednesday December 26th.

Police believe that he molested the victim on numerous occasions but have built their case around evidence from two specific encounters.

Update [February 20, 2007]:

Nakamura, a former senior officer in Urayasu, Chiba prefecture, has been thrown in jail for two years after being convicted of abuse of office (and sexual assault?) by judge Takanori Hikosaka of the Chiba District Court.

Burglar Targets Cops

2007-12-11T22:12:00.000+09:00

A petty thief has apparently made a habit out of stealing from Nagoya's finest.

A burglar was found to have lots of equipment that he had taken from at least one police station.

Yukio Toho was arrested on December 5th for trespassing while doorknob shopping on Aichi Prefectural Police property. It was reported that he is 36 and unemployed.

Cops Get Their Man

2007-12-02T15:31:00.000+09:00

A rather stupid robber, who repeatedly held up the same convenience store in Irifune, Tokyo, was collared by police when he attacked for the third time.

The suspect, Norihisa Namba (48), may have been responsible for thefts at the same shop on October 6th and November 5th. The local police recently began watching the shop to see if they could nab the knife-wielding robber in the act.

At 4 a.m. Saturday morning Namba attacked again, and the officers led him off to jail shortly after. The Yomiuri newspaper reported that he has admitted to at least five similar attacks (hopefully not all at that same shop in Irifune).

Namba was able to forcibly extract 785,000 yen in the five robberies that he has admitted to.

Suspended Cop Caught Perving

2007-11-28T20:49:00.001+09:00

There has been a lot of talk in the press about how around 70% of crimes in Japan are comitted by repeat offenders. Here's a case in point.

Another bout of "poor judgement" on the part of a 31-year-old officer in Hokkaido has landed him in more hot water. This time he broke the Minor Offense Law (?) when he was caught spying on a young woman at her home.

The woman's friend scared the cop away and then alerted police who tracked him down by way of his license plate number. In this case the Minor Offense Law is probably code for trespassing. This episode took place back on August 21st.

The officer in question was off-duty at the time because he had been suspended for leaking confidential information onto the Internet back in July.

Police Departments Awarding Contracts to Traffic Safety Associations (ie. Former Police Officers)

2007-11-25T21:53:00.000+09:00

The Yomiuri newspaper ran an article detailing the apparent lack of transparency in the way that prefectural police departments award contracts for policing parking and traffic violations. Despite being required to accept bids for the contracts from the private sector, only one prefecture (Wakayama prefecture--the traffic safety association in that area declined to bid for the contract) has awarded a private firm or association with a contract.

This just about sums it up:

Ministries and other public offices often attempt to award discretionary
contracts for public works to bodies that are related to the offices, by putting
too much emphasis on the public and somewhat unusual nature of the tasks. But I
don't believe the management of parking meters requires special abilities. The
police should invite open bids to ensure their contracts are transparent.

That was courtesy of Sakae Kitazawa who is a professor at Tohoku University. It should be noted that most of the contracts are being awarded to regional traffic associations at or near the maximum budget allotment.

In other words, prefectural police departments are wasting tax money.

Iwate Cops Protecting Their Own

2007-11-23T12:01:00.000+09:00

The Mainichi has reported that at least two sexually-related incidents involving the Iwate Prefectural Police's male officers were not reported.

One incident involved a male cop grabbing his female colleague's breasts after a party. It was reported that the fondling was neither invited nor appreciated.

Another case involved an officer making use of a hidden camera to film women. Exactly what he was filming was not divulged, and no further details were given.

Neither officer was prosecuted.

There are no official figures on how many violations of the law by this nation's finest go unreported and/or unpunished.

Ex-Cop to do Time for Blackmailing Women

2007-11-22T21:11:00.000+09:00

A former Osaka Prefectural Police officer has been handed a three year prison term for his hobby of sexually-oriented blackmail and assault.

Hidetoshi Sakamoto, 26, who used to be one of Sumiyoshi police station's finest, was in the habit of threatening to sell naked photos of the women that he had met through dating websites.

One particularly nasty episode cited by the Mainichi online newspaper:

Court records showed that in January the former Sumiyoshi Police Station officer
threatened a junior high schoolgirl with a paper cutter at a hotel where he
stripped her, tied her up and took photos of her.

High Cop Turns Himself In

2007-11-21T18:46:00.000+09:00

A 35-year-old cop in Hokkaido has been busted for drug possession.

Hideyoshi Sasaki, who is normally stationed at a police box near Sapporo train station, was accompanied by family members when he turned himself in Tuesday night.

Whatever drug it is (he appeared at the police station with a syringe and the stimulant in question in a bag), he claims that he is addicted to it and has been using it for the past two years.

He claimed that caring for a sick family member was the cause of his turning to the stimulant.

Cops Fight Crime with Love Letters

2007-11-20T08:19:00.000+09:00

A police station in Iwate prefecture has asked some of its female officers to write "love letters" to juvenile offenders who are causing problems within its jurisdiction.

About 100 teenagers have been arrested over the past year for a variety of criminal offenses, and Morioka Higashi police station believes it has the answer to recidivism amongst said population of offenders.

The love letters, about 130 of them have been written by four female officers (who aren't allowed to carry guns, by the way), are being credited with a two-thirds reduction in repeat juvenile delinquency in the area.

Young boys and girls alike have received the "love letters" from the police letters. The letters seek to start a dialogue with the youths, and it was reported that several teenagers were nearly moved to tears by the missives.

Cop Crashes Car While DUI

2007-11-19T21:30:00.000+09:00

Fortunately nobody was injured when 51-year-old police officer, Yukio Yasuda, crashed into a car stopped at a red light in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi on Sunday night.

Yasuda told his superiors that he had been drinking shochu before getting into his vehicle.

He said that he was sorry.

Cop Leaks Investigative Info on Mixi

2007-11-09T21:50:00.000+09:00

A young cop in Nara posted information about a future raid/crackdown on a motorcycle gang on his Mixi account.

Mixi is a social networking site popular in Japan that is similar in principle to Facebook and MySpace.

He was apparently under the impression that only his friends could read his posts, but his current post settings allow all Mixi members access to his blog.

The police officer in question has been verbally reprimanded for his actions.

Court Says Cop Lied

2007-11-08T22:12:00.000+09:00

A 47-year-old man was acquitted of shoving and injuring a police officer. The high court's ruling overturned a lower court ruling that had slapped the man with a ten month jail term (suspended for three years).

Apparently the judge found it puzzling that nobody standing nearby witnessed the alleged attack (ie. the cop made the story up), and decided that the man's statements while being questions were unreliable (ie. the cop made the man confess to something that didn't happen).

No word yet on whether the man has elected to sue the cop for bringing false charges against him.

Officer Scolded for Throwing Away Case Files Quits

2007-11-07T21:46:00.001+09:00

A Saitama police officer has resigned after being punished for throwing away investigative files that he had illegally brought to his house.

The cop, who is 49 and has not been named, threw out the documents after he discovered that he had forgotten to file on time.

Many, if not all, of the documents were related to complaints filed by citizens in Saitama.

Cop Caught Stealing

2007-11-05T21:19:00.000+09:00

After jumping out of a second-story window in a failed escape attempt, a Shizuoka police officer was caught, positively identified, and arrested after stealing ￥2,800 worth of goods from a drugstore on Sunday.

The officer, 32-year-old Hidenori Ishikawa, initially gave a false identity to the investigating police officers in the hope that the fact he is a cop stationed at Hamamatsu-higashi police station wouldn't come to light.

Ishikawa then leapt from a window but was caught soon after.

Chiba Police Officer Molests Woman Looking for Help

2007-10-27T15:10:00.000+09:00

Yoshitaka Miura, 33, a police officer working in Matsudo, Chiba prefecture, quit his job after being slapped with a six-month suspension for molesting a woman on July 3rd, 2007.

The woman had come to the station to report that she was being stalked and had been defrauded. Miura later visited her apartment (in uniform) to collect more information, but ended up touching her inappropriately.

Western Tokyo Cop in Murder-Suicide?

2007-10-25T23:05:00.000+09:00

Kenzo Shimada, a 40-year-old lieutenant from Akiruno police station in Tokyo, was found at home lying in a pool of blood next to his mother, Hiroko (65).

Kyodo reported that police investigators believe Shimada stabbed his mother in the back before turning the knife on himself.

Both were dead when police arrived on the scene Wednesday morning.

Officer Commits Suicide Over Alleged Stalking

2007-10-23T22:23:00.000+09:00

No concrete details as of yet, but a police officer in Nagoya committed suicide on October 15th after it was discovered that he was harassing/stalking a young woman who was an employee at a pachinko parlor.

Also, no word yet on why there was such a long delay between his death and reporting it to the media. It is possible that the press club attached to the NPA was told to hold off for a while.

Kyodo reported that the cop was a 52-year-old senior officer with the Aichi Prefectural Police department.

It sounds like the police reacted swiftly to a complaint filed by the woman. The Kyodo report made it sound like the prefectural police department responded to the complaint immediately.

If that's true, it's a very healthy development which is at least partially related to the stalker-cop case from August (just as the woman's complaint was no doubt informed by the widespread news of the same murder-suicide).

However, the Kyodo report also suggested that the officer was in search of "friendship".

The Mainichi, on the other hand, depicts the officer as more of a predator. The online edition of the newspaper reported that the cop was "begging her to become his lover" via email. It was also reported that the woman was scared enough to hire a lawyer to accompany her when she went to file a complaint with the police, so maybe that's why the prefectural police reacted in such a rational and immediate manner.

It is hoped that some more details are released about this incident soon. It is unfortunate that the officer in question felt the need to take his own life over what is currently being depicted in the press as a very minor harassment case.

Officer Stabbed in Chiba

2007-10-22T21:05:00.000+09:00

A Chiba police officer is in stable condition after suffering stab wounds while catching a thief red-handed.

Yoshihiro Shimada, 44, suffered wounds to his chest and stomach after discovering Arata Okazawa, 58, siphoning fuel from a car in Shirako, Chiba at around 2 a.m. Monday morning. Shimada is expected to make a full recovery.

Okazawa is now in police custody.

Corrupt Cop Leaks Investigation Info

2007-10-21T01:17:00.000+09:00

Toshikazu Kurimoto, 32, a former police officer in Aichi prefecture, was sentenced to 22 months in jail for accepting bribes.

He pocketed more than 800,000 yen in exchange for confidential information on police investigations.

It should be noted that Kurimoto appealed the sentence. That is interesting. From what can be gleaned from press coverage of most law-breaking cops, that doesn't usually happen.

Cops Fail to Investigate Sumo Wrestler's Death

2007-10-15T09:29:00.000+09:00

Takashi Saito, 17, died on June 26th, 2007, due to a particularly harsh round of hazing at his sumo stable. It now appears that he was beaten with a shovel by older (and probably larger) stablemates.

The police investigating his admittance to the emergency room failed to ask any tough questions about the death, and apparently bought the official explanation of the circumstances (read: lies) provided by the stable master, Tokitsukaze. Tokitsukaze's sumo stable is in Inuyama, Aichi.

The Saito family was suspicious of what was going on, so they collected Takashi's body from the stable, and had a university do an independent autopsy on June 28th. The stable had offered to cremate the body for them.

It was concluded that Takashi Saito died from major trauma, accompanied by internal bleeding, to locations on his body such as his hips and shoulders. This not only makes the Tokitsukaze stable look bad, but now the police have exposed themselves as incompentent as well.

They never bothered to ask questions about the massive bruising on Saito's body, and they never appeared to entertain notions that foul play might have been involved in the wrestler's death.

Koji Dewa, a forensic scientist at Niigata University where the autopsy was carried out, said of the police, "I suspect they failed to [perform] some basics of investigations."

Koban Photo

2007-10-13T14:53:00.000+09:00

This is a photo of the side of the koban near Kaihin-Makuhari station in Chiba, Japan. The architecture is interesting (maybe they hang their laundry in the space on the roof?), and the fact that it has at least three floors means that it's quite large by koban standards.

Panty-Pinching Cop Caught

2007-10-11T00:12:00.001+09:00

Update [March 26, 2008]: The officer's family name is now being translated as Kamihara in the English press.

A 27-year-old sargeant with the MPD's riot squad was caught stealing a woman's panties.

The officer, Keisuke Kanbara, forced his way into the woman's apartment by using a screwdriver, and it is believed that he has committed other thefts in the past.

Although it is unclear who reported his actions to the police, it was reaported that Kanbara was caught red-handed.

Cop Takes One for the Team

2007-10-06T21:22:00.000+09:00

It was reported that three officers got into a tussle with two thieves early Friday morning.

One of the cops was able to apprehend the gang-related thief on his own. However, the other two cops didn't have so much luck.

It seems that the two officers were unable to control the other thief (no reported gang ties) even though they had a one-man-advantage. Masamichi Oda, 21, managed to outsmart the cops and relieve one of them of his firearm.

He then shot the officer in the ass.

The 29-year-old sargeant's name has been withheld.

Groping on the Train

2007-10-03T00:40:00.000+09:00

A police officer was arrested for some very chikan-like action on a train Tuesday morning.

The officer, who was on his way to work, allegedly groped a high school girl between Minami-Funabashi and Shin-Urayasu stations on the JR-Keio line.

Kazumasa Yamaguchi, a 36-year-old sargeant employed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, has admitted to molesting the 16-year-old girl for about ten minutes on the crowded train.

He told his colleagues, "I molested her because she was my type."

Cop Commits Suicide

2007-09-22T12:44:00.000+09:00

Norio Tanooka, 40, died yesterday at Omotesando station (Chiyoda subway line) after allegedly committing suicide by jumping in front of an oncoming train.

The suicide occurred on Friday morning (September 21), and the MPD said that no suicide has been found.

Ex-Cop Caught Trying to Force 15-year-old Girl into Hotel

2007-09-21T00:08:00.000+09:00

Takashi Fukugawa, 34, a former police officer in Tokyo, was arrested on September 15th for trying to force his 15-year-old date into a hotel.

The girl protested loudly, and a passing police officer arrested Fukugawa.

Fukugawa, at the tender age of 34, is a little young to be retired from the police force. It was reported that he was stationed in Koto-ku, Tokyo for several years.

His reason for hanging up his uniform? He was fired in December 2005 for molesting a junior high school girl.

Police Officer Murdered by 16-year-old Daughter

2007-09-18T21:28:00.000+09:00

A 16-year-old girl killed her father, a police officer (45), with a hatchet.

The attack is believed to have occurred early Tuesday morning. Police were called to the scene by the police officer's wife.

The daughter was quoted as having said, "I killed my dad because I did not like him."

Update 1: [Wednesday, September 19, 2007]

The daughter is said to have been upset about her father's "relationships with women".

Snoozing Cop Hit by Train

2007-09-18T19:51:00.000+09:00

A 46-year-old police officer from Aichi prefecture was hit by a train while sleeping on the tracks at Shiga-Hondori subway station on the Meijo line in Nagoya.

The accident happened at 11:25 pm on Sunday. No word yet on how he could have "fallen asleep" on the tracks while the trains are still operating normally. Did he fall off the platform and hit his head? Was he attempting to commit suicide?

Or maybe he was able to actually fall asleep on an express track that doesn't get much use. After all, it is perfectly reasonable for a cop to get tired.

Cop Used Illegal Interrogation Techniques

2007-09-15T01:11:00.000+09:00

Supporters of a man who was arrested in a vote-buying scandal, but then subsequently acquitted by the court, are seeking to have the police officer in charge of his interrogation compensate him personally.

A group of 12 individuals was acquitted earlier this year based on the fact that the judge believed their assertions that they were forced to confess. The inspector had a couple of interesting forms of intimidation that he employed. This quote is from the Mainichi:

"During interrogation, the former assistant police inspector made the
victim trample on paper bearing the names of his relatives."

This isn't all he made the suspects do, but this is one of the more colorful techniques he employed to assert his dominance during the interrogation in order to secure a confession. This has become personal now that these people are going after him on an individual basis.

While it sounds kind of crazy, this type of treatment happens quite often in Japan. For more information on how scary the Japanese penal system is, read this article.

Update 1: [September 20, 2007]

The police officer in question has been arrested on suspicion of having forced a confession during "voluntary" questioning.

For some reason, the media has decided not to name the cop even though he has been formally arrested. The name of the plaintiff in this case, a 61-year-old hotel operator from Kagoshima, is Sachio Kawabata.

The officer, 45, retired from the police force in August of this year.

Cop Molests Junior High School Girl

2007-09-14T14:40:00.000+09:00

Masaki Higashikozono, 23, has been arrested for molesting a 15-year-old girl in late July.

They met through a matchmaking website.

He was quoted during the interrogation as saying, "I couldn't suppress my desires, and committed an atrocious act."

Butterfinger Cops

2007-09-13T12:59:00.001+09:00

Several police officers were disciplined by the Saitama Prefectural Police department after it was discovered that they dropped the keys to suspects' handcuffs.

Even worse, they dropped the keys within reach of the suspects.

No word on whether any of the suspects actually escaped.